


Welcome to Endless Boundaries Academy

by naegimakoto



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2017-12-23 02:49:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 30,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/921118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naegimakoto/pseuds/naegimakoto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Endless Boundaries Academy- A prestigious high school fit for the most talented American students. Sixteen hopeful students' lives spiral downwards when they discover they are stuck in a life of mutual killing. The problem is, who do you trust?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

A girl with long dark brown hair groaned softly. She had a pounding headache, and she barely remembered anything. Squinting, she sat up and sighed, only to put her face in her arms down on the desk again. Where exactly was she?

'!'

She had remembered! She was been on her way to the fancy school she'd been accepted into, called Endless Boundaries Academy! She had traveled all the way from Vermont to an almost empty town in Arizona to attend this school! It almost seems like-

Suddenly, before the girl could finish her thoughts, she felt two hands on her shoulders coming from behind her.

"You alright, kid?" a kinda geeky sounding voice asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

She let out a shrill noise, sat up, and turned around swiftly. She stood up from the desk in her fit of surprise.

"Oh my god you scared the living crap outta me!"

"Wow, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you, I was just gonna ask you where we were. I was wandering the halls when I looked in and you had your head down on the desk! You're the first person I saw!" He asked defensively. The girl sighed, and held out her hand.

"My name is Nicole Robinson, Super High School Level Instrumentalist... and I think we should find some other people, I know we're not the only ones here..." Nicole wandered off, brushing some of the lint off of her black knee length skirt. The boy with shaggy blond hair smiled slightly and took her hand and lead her out the door of the classroom.

"Hello, Nicole . I'm Oliver. Oliver Davis. I'm Super High School Level Good Luck... I kind of won a lottery to be here," He laughed, ignoring her nickname request, "it's a pleasure to meet you!"

He was wearing a simple white polo shirt and long tan pants, and he had a small smirk on his face that seemed like it didn't want to leave.

Suddenly, cutting the two off, a small screeching sound came from the school's loudspeakers.

"Ahem, testing, testing! Ah yes, it seems like the pesky speakers decided to work. Well, it's seven AM! All of you meet in the auditorium at eight o'clock! You'll all find maps in the school, so don't be late! Find each other, become friends! See you then, you bastards!" an eerily cute voice came from the loudspeakers. It sounds like a 9 year old boy broke into the school and was trying to scare everyone. But it was eerier. Both of the students felt uneasy.

Nicole frowned. She had sworn that she got here at six thirty in the morning, had she really been out cold for thirty minutes? "Oliver, did you faint and wake up in the school?"

The lottery winner turned to the girl standing next to him, also observing his surroundings. "Uh, yeah, I actually woke up in the room next door. That's really, really weird now that I think about it..." he just now realized that? "...but should we find our way to the auditorium now? This place is still giving me the creeps. Especially with the windows being blocked off and stuff." He pointed to the wall, where a window seemed to be replaced with some heavy-duty steel. Nicole nodded wordlessly, not knowing what to say.

The two of them walked out of the room, and made their way through the dimly lit hallways. "So, I heard that each class doesn't have an age restriction, and that the ages of the students ranged from fifteen to eighteen. How old are you?" Oliver asked.

"I'm fifteen. Although I'm turning sixteen in on Saturday! I hate how school starts in August, I want to have my birthday to myself..." She muttered. Oliver chuckled at her chattiness.

"I just turned seventeen in July. So I guess in a normal school, I'd be a grade ahead of you." He smiled.

It wasn't a long walk to the auditorium, since the two walked only for a couple of minutes. Opening the doors, a few students were already in there, though there were supposed to be sixteen of them. Including Oliver and Nicole, there were about five in the room. That meant that some were going to be there eventually.

When they opened the door, they saw fourteen eyes go directly to them.

And that was the last time they would ever see hope in every pair of these eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

When Nicole and Oliver opened the door, they saw fourteen eyes go directly to them.

The fourteen students, seven guys and seven girls, all looked up at the two teens who had just walked into the room. The room, that had gone silent for a few moments, suddenly regained its original noise level. Oliver wandered off, and Nicole glanced around the room, before being pulled aside by a short, smiling, very cute teal eyed girl.

The girl, clad in a long green top with lots of straps and white cargo pants, waved her hand in front of Nicole's face with one hand and flipped her fluffy, chestnut brown hair with the other. "Hello! I haven't seen you before," she paused and let out a small giggle, "My name's Emily Walker! Call me Emmie! I'm a Super High School Level Public Speaker!"

Emily Marie Walker is famous around the country for her motivational speeches surrounding many different subjects. She motivated schools to be more aware of bullying, and made the public aware of the global warming, causing the Polar Bears to die out. At 15 years old, she's super successful. Lots of people have been moved and persuaded by her speeches.

Emmie's friendly, yet cutesy attitude made Nicole smile immediately. "Hey there! I'm Nicole Robinson. I'm an Instrumentalist!"

The shorter girl smiled wider, if that was even possible. "Whoa, that's so cool! Music's such an awesome talent! Well, I'm gonna go talk to the others, see ya!"

And with that, she disappeared. She seemed nice enough. Nicole was now just standing there, wondering where else she should go.

While Nicole tried to sort her thoughts together, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her torso and a head rest on her shoulder. The person on her started breathing heavily. Then she blew on her neck and started whispering something.

"What'd you have for dinner last night."

Nicole practically shrieked and jumped a foot in the air. 'whO'

The brown haired girl turned the upper half of her body around with horror, to see a snickering girl with floppy brown hair and angular features, wearing a simple red polo shirt, jeans, and red converse sneakers. She regained her composure from laughing so hard, stuck out her hand to Nicole, and gave her a crooked smile.

"The name's Chell Titan. Actress." When Chell said 'Actress', she stood up a little straighter. But Nicole was too busy absolutely gawking at the girl standing in front of her.

She just got Uncomfortable Touched by a famous actress.

'Oh. My. GOD.'

Michelle Clover Titan, 16, stars in a famous television show called 'Reborn'*1. She stars as the eleventh reincarnation called 'The Professor', who is the last of a race of humanoid aliens called Time Lords. Her character travels throughout time and space with her companions inside of the Koro, a time machine that looks like a phone box. This show is extremely popular with teenagers, and she has a ton of teenage boys crushing on her.

"Sweet lord honey Jesús*2, it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Nicole Robinson, I'm an Instrumentalist." Nicole nearly choked out, shaking Chell's hand vigorously. The other girl laughed lightheartedly, and adjusted her shirt.

After bidding her goodbyes, Nicole spotted two people talking on the other side of the room.

One was a very tall young woman wearing a dark violet maid's dress with a fancy white apron. Everything about her was purple. Her hair, which was tied in pigtails, and her eyes, which matched her hair. Nicole'd never seen someone that colorful.

But the other person was just as... flashy. He seemed like a nice enough guy, however. He was a dark skinned man wearing yellow firefighter bunker gear. He was pretty flamboyant, with a deep, loud voice, and his arms were expressing his boisterous attitude.

They both turned towards the shorter girl, and Nicole immediately felt like she had shriveled up. She felt like she wanted to crawl into a hole.

The maid-clad girl smiled lightly and put a hand on her hip. "Hiya there, honey cakes," Nicole's face twisted a little at that nickname, "I'm Yana Sutherland, a maid. And this guy here's Marcus Jakes."

Yana's a famous housemaid. Well, not quite famous, but she was hired by a famous actor to be a maid for him in his super huge mansion in Malibu. And at the age of 18, she's pretty well known, considering she's a housekeeper at that tender age, not to mention one to a super famous guy. Yana wasn't talked about TOO often among the US population, but enough to earn her SHSL title.

The very tall man looked slightly offended. "I am perfectly capable of introducing myself." he turned towards Nicole, "My name is Marcus Kenneth Jakes, Super High School Level Firefighter." He held out a hand, which Nicole shook. She was surprised to see that he had heterochromatic eyes, one blue, and the other green.

Marcus Jakes, Super High School Level Firefighter, is a volunteer fireman at the age of 18 years. He's a pretty big mystery, though. I guess we'll have to wait and see to learn more about this guy. He seems nice enough, however.

"Hey guys! I'm Nicole, I'm an Instrumentalist. I play a ton of different musical instruments."

Marcus nodded towards Nicole momentarily, showing that he heard her, and Yana ignored her completely. She was obviously absorbed in her own conversation with the firefighter dude. 'Okay...?'

Slightly offended, Nicole turned around and started walking towards the middle of the group. The girl was horribly afraid of these people. They were all so... boisterous. Except for one girl who caught her eye. She seemed... reserved. Nicole found herself making her way towards her, eyes locking in her gaze for a moment.

She had shoulder length light brown hair, which was short in the back and long in the front, with gray eyes hiding behind thick blue glasses. Wearing a purple sweatshirt, black t-shirt and long gray cargo pants, her laid back attire went with her attitude, as she swiped her finger along her touch screen phone.

The girl mumbled something along the lines of 'These fuckers won't even give us even a bar signal in this messed up joint'.

The confused teen tapped the... busy... teenager on the shoulder, and she looked up. "Oh hey. Are you irritating?"

Nicole was slightly confused with that question. "Uh, I hope not?"

The purple sweatshirt-girl put her oversized phone in her pocket. "Good. I'm Sara Thompson. I'm Super High School Level Movie Critic, or whatever. I guess it's good to meet you."

Sara Thompson, 15, runs a one-woman website that is stocked full of hundreds of movie reviews. There isn't too much to say on this matter, other than the fact that she's popular with the teenage boy population, due to her snarky, hilarious persona online, and the fact that no one has ever seen her face (unless you know her personally), making tons of teenage boys want to know her. She's a pretty funny chick, but she doesn't seem to be having a great time here.

Nicole smiled at Sara. "I'm Nicole Robinson, Super High School Level Instrumentalist.

Sara's eyes widened a little. "Oh cool! I know who you are, I've heard a lot of your cello music on YouTube! You're a fucking babe with that kind of shit."

Nicole nearly choked on her own phlegm.

"Thanks bro! I like your reviews, you're totally hilarious!"

Sara gave Nicole a joking nod of approval, crossing her arms and nodding her head. "You make my kokoro," she paused for effect, "go doki doki."

'Looks like I found someone who I can probably get along with here..." Nicole thought with a relief. This chick is going to be so fun. It was actually a pretty good thing that amongst this group, Nicole had found someone with /good humor/. The ironic jokes. It was just too perfect.

Nicole decided to add to the... absolutely perfect weeaboo jokes. "You are the tsundere to my life."

The joking and getting-to-know-each-other thing lasted for a good two minutes.

"Welp, I'm gonna go find a corner to sit in. See ya."

Sara walked away, towards Emmie. They started talking, so it seems that Sara took a liking to her as well. That was pretty good news.

Nicole felt overwhelmed. Still. She had a lot more introductions to take part in. She needed some luck.


	3. Chapter 3

Well, the day so far was going smoothly, at least to the brunette's standards. As long as things were going alright, maybe she'd make a few more friends in this school. This strange, strange school.

Feeling slightly overwhelmed with everyone in the room to talk to, Nicole approached a slightly bored looking guy with spiky black hair and really deep blue eyes. He was wearing dark, baggy blue jeans, a yellow t-shirt with a black lightning bolt on the front, and slightly dirty white converse sneakers.

The guy was bobbing his head to a beat, probably from music that was coming out of his large white headphones, which were resting on his head. Nicole stood there for a moment, waving her hand in front of his few a little. He looked up, and let out a small laugh.

"Oh, hey, haha, didn't see ya there!" The dude laughed, scratching the back of his head nervously. He took off the headphones and let them rest around his neck. "I'm Chris White, Super High School Level DJ. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Chris White, 18, is a very popular DJ, taking his fame across the world, visiting tons of clubs. Normally, he wouldn't be allowed into clubs until he was 21, but since he knew many famous people across the globe, he was able to land some jobs as a DJ. He's pretty talented, a nice kid with a nice music taste.

"Hey Chris, I'm Nicole Robinson. I'm an instrumentalist." Nicole grinned, twiddling her fingers at him in a casual wave. Another potential friend.

Chris nodded at her, smiling, and laughed a little. "Well, since the presentation is going to start," he paused to glance at his watch, "in twenty minutes, I suggest you talk to the others! I'll see you later!"

Nicole walked away, for about three seconds, to nearly crash into a petite girl who appeared literally out of nowhere. Nicole noticed that she was talking to another girl, as well.

The first girl was pretty small in both height and stature, and she had honey colored hair that reached a little bit past her shoulders, but it was tied into a ponytail with a bandana. She wore an aquamarine shirt which matched her eyes, skinny jeans and blue converse shoes. Nicole took notice of an oriental dragon looking tattoo on her arm, but she looked up to connect her eyes to the girl.

The second girl was slender and tall, with neatly curled, thick, waist length bleach blonde hair. She had blue eyes, and had fairly tan skin. She wore a blue sleeveless top, a layered white miniskirt, and black leggings that reached to her knees. Over her outfit, she wore a slightly dirty apron, covered in pink and brown smudges. She was also clutching a large blue purse.

"Sup! I'm Gabbi Arrington, Illusionist at her finest!" Gabbi clearly stated, smirking a little, crossing her arms. She was a good three inches shorter than Nicole, so she looked up slightly to talk to her. Gabbi was clearly older than her, however.

Gabbi Lindin Arrington, 16, is a slightly famous illusionist around the United States. She isn't super duper famous, but she preforms around the country, ranging from birthday parties to large, boisterous festivals. Being a daredevil, her illusions are usually quite dangerous, but they were very entertaining to watch. She once worked with a poisonous snake. The performance was both very entertaining and absolutely horrific.

"Hello, my name is Jessamine Beaumont. It's nice to meet you!" The other newcomer smiled, tilting her head to the side. "I'm Super High School Level Cosmetologist." She pulled out a lipstick tube, and applied a little to her bottom lip, before spreading it around with her index finger. She pulled out a mirror, and played with her hair a bit.

Jessamine Margaret Beaumont is an extremely talented cosmetologist, at just 17 years old. She's famous around the United States, a reputation that states that she always knows how to make a client feel beautiful. Her skills for transforming mousy girls into divas must've gotten the girl her SHSL title, since she's standing here today.

Nicole introduced herself to them, like she had done to every single one of the previous students. After upholding some basic conversation with them, she wandered off.

She locked eyes with a tall, and slightly lanky kid, who looked a little younger than her. The kid had spiky brown hair, and purple eyes, and he wore an oversized black and purple sweater, which was also worn over a white collared shirt. He also wore knee length black shorts, black striped socks, and black and white high-top sneakers. He looked fairly upbeat, and he had just walked away from Chris, Nicole taking note that they must have introduced themselves.

He sauntered over to Nicole, closing his eyes and grinning widely. "Hey there! I'm Connor Stark, Super High School Level Animator!"

Connor Michel Stark, 14, is an extremely talented animator, having a famous web series on youtube. He's pretty young, but that youth gives him an advantage. His comedy/action web cartoons are well liked among the teenage population, and he even interned at Nickelodeon Studios for a short while, before branching off and starting a one-man show.

Nicole introduced herself once again. "I've seen your cartoons online! They're actually pretty great!"

"Thanks a lot! Well, time to go and talk to some more peeps. See ya later, bro." Connor replied, grinning once again and making his way over to Yana and Marcus.

"Good luck with them." Nicole muttered. Her impression of them wasn't the greatest, considering how they snubbed her. Well, that's the joy of being one of the younger people there. She noted how the only ones who were younger than her so far were Emmie and Connor, the latter being over a year younger.

Well, time to talk to the tall blond dude with green eyes and slightly shorter dark haired guy, who seemed to look older than the first.

Blondie over there wore a white shirt under a green sweatshirt, which had the word "Bonnefoy" on the back. He also had plain black pants, and black boots. He had some bandages on his right hand, and a bandage on his face.

On the other hand, the slightly shorter guy had shaggy black hair with a bit of red dye in it, and he wore an unzipped black leather jacket with a white tank top under it, a chain necklace, baggy blue jeans and black sneakers with red laces.

Nicole couldn't believe how creepy she seemed to look like. She stood there for like, three minutes at a time, looking at these people.

Anyhow, Nicole sauntered over to them, and they took notice, so she didn't have to work at catching their attention.

The blond muscular guy had a goofy smirk on his face, while the other boy looked a little shy, which seemed to take away from his rough appearance. Blondie held out his un-injured hand, and practically forced Nicole into giving him a fist bump. "The name's Rylin Bonnefoy, I'm a Hockey Player."

Rylin Angel Bonnefoy, 18, is a champion hockey player, known across the United States. His skills are phenomenal, and he's known to start a lot of fights on court, over the smallest of issues. Every single game he's participated in, he's at least thrown one punch to an opposing team member. Though he's a big fighter, rumor has it that he's actually a big softie.

"Um... Hi... I'm uh, Jason Marcoich... I'm, um, Super High School Level Bass Guitarist." Jason muttered sheepishly.

Jason Lee Marcoich, 19, is a bass guitarist for a very popular, and very new alternative rock band in the United States. It gained popularity very fast, but even though the lead singer gets the most attention out of the group, Jason's still praised for his mad skills as a bass guitarist. He's known to be very shy, which adds to his charm, and makes his fans go nuts. He seems to be a pretty nice kid.

"Nice to meet you two! I'm Nicole Robinson. I'm Super High School Level Instrumentalist. I hope I get to know you guys more!"

Jason's face lightened a little at the fact that there was another music student in the mix. Nicole also brightened a little.

Rylin and Jason seemed to be having a pretty decent conversation going, so Nicole decided it was best to leave them alone for now. She only had a few more people to introduce herself to now.

Around the corner, Nicole spotted Sara once again, speaking with another female. She had auburn hair in a loose ponytail that rested over her shoulder, that came down to the bottom of her chest, with bleached tips. The girl wore a purple v-neck long sleeved shirt, gray skinny jeans, and purple and black sneakers.

Nicole made her way to the two talking girls. "Hey Sara! Who's this?"

The other girl smiled slightly shyly at Nicole. "I'm Kristen Parks, Prankster!"

Nicole raised her eyebrows. She didn't expect this girl to be the type to pull pranks on everyone.

Kristen Ray Parks, 15, is known very well throughout the community for her pranks. She, like a few others, isn't completely famous, but her shenanigans surly landed the her the SHSL Prankster title. Kristen is a pretty funny girl, she even goes for the cheesiest of pranks, such as using whoopee cushions and throwing rubber chickens at people. Some people call her "mistress chucklefuck". (and a certain protagonist still laughs at that).

"Hey Nicole, I was just talking to Kristen. She's pretty chill." Sara stated, motioning towards a currently laughing girl.

Kristen grinned. "So, you're the other cool girl I heard about. I think we're a new trio."

Nicole was only slightly confused, but put on a mischievous grin. "So, I'm cool, huh? I talked to you for three minutes, and I'm already popular. I feel honored."

Sara glared jokingly at Nicole, and pulled out her cell phone. "Still no service... this place has something -seriously- wrong with it."

Kristen shuddered and nodded, and Nicole nodded as well. "Yeah, this is getting strange. But I'll talk to you later. I still haven't talked to everyone yet."

Nicole felt like she was being a little rude by ending their conversation so abruptly, but things happen. She needed to finish getting acquainted with these people.

Wandering for a good fifteen seconds, she found a slightly short statured guy with a suspicious expression on his face. He had shaggy blond hair and green eyes, and he wore long, dark green pants and a lighter green shirt with mid-length sleeves. He also wore white trainer shoes. He seemed to avoid a lot of people, and he looked pretty suspicious.

"Um, are you alright? I'm Nicole Lillian Robinson, I'm an instrumentalist. You look pretty worried..."

The blond haired boy turned swiftly towards Nicole. "I'm fine," he started defensively, "but if you're curious, I'm Cliff Nevala. I'm an archer."

Cliff Dimitri Nevala, 16, in an amazing aim, and a fantastic archer, making first place in many shooting championships all across the United States. It's said that he uses intellectual and calculating skills to make his shots, rather than using pure luck. He can even challenge and win against champion archers twice his age.

Nicole smiled, and took a step towards him, holding her hand out for a handshake. "It's good to meet you!"

Cliff stepped back a little, rejecting her handshake. "Yeah. You too."

She wasn't slightly offended- she was seriously offended. Her first impression of him- huge asshole. Growling internally, Nicole walked away from him. Maybe he'd open up a little.

Nicole wandered around, and her heart dropped to her stomach. She was forced to talk to him. The one person she was avoiding all day. The most horrific person she has ever seen.

A clown.

Nicole had coulrophobia, also known as the fear of clowns. Though it was embarrassing, Nicole almost screamed as she heard a small honking sound behind her.

"Gyah!" Nicole choked out, before being looked down on by her worst nightmare. He was horrifying, at least to her.

He was taller than her by an inch, being 5'8'', but he was extremely scrawny. He wore a mask on his face, black on the right and red on the left. His outfit however, was very...unique. The most noticeable part of his outfit was his jacket, that looked like it was patched together by a ton of different quilt materials. He had loose fitting pants with gray lines running down them, and vibrant green, pointed shoes. He also had gloves on, which were black and white, and lastly, he wore a jester's hat, which was red and orange, and it had little bells on each end of it.

The first thing the clown did was bellow a laugh. Nicole stifled a scream.

"Webb Tee Nabal's the name, and I'm a harlequin! Whoops! I spoke, hoo hoo hoo!"

Webb Tee Nabal, 16, was an extremely well known clown, who's a huge goof and a comedian. His parents run a big circus, so typically, he travels the country year round, and preforms. He stops every year in New York every year for the biggest performance of the year, which is always filmed and put on air. His harlequin act is always the most popular, with his different skills, such as acrobatics, jumping acts, balancing acts, daring feats like dodging animal's attacks, knife throwing, joking, and so on and so forth.

Nicole choked out her name and talent, and she quickly scurried away from the harlequin. It was enough having to /talk/ to him, but now she'd have to go to school with the guy. It was creepy enough that harlequins were supposed to be silent. She shuffled to stand between Cliff and Sara, as the clock struck eight.

The lights in the auditorium dimmed.

"Upupupu... Welcome, bastards, to your new school!" A small voice, the same voice from the intercom, bellowed into the room. Everyone in the room exchanged nervous glances as the heard a shuffling on the stage. They heard a gavel on the podium.

"Ahem! Attention! You students have ZERO respect for your principal!"

It was a bear. Their principal was a bear. Emmie backed away from the stage. She was standing a little close to it.

Jessamine muttered something along the lines of "That bear is absolutely adorable."

Rylin looked appalled. Everyone seemed to know he didn't like taking bullshit, and so they could tell that he was going to snap at any moment. Oliver and Chris exchanged nervous glances.

"What is /that/?" Kristen asked nervously, pointing to the bear. She was the first one to say something loud enough for the bear to hear.

The bear was half black, half white. The black side's mouth had a sinister grin, and the eye was glowing red.

"I'm your principal, Monobear!" It nearly shouted.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm your principal, Monobear!" The bear (principal?) nearly shouted. Monobear was obviously losing his patience rather quickly.

"That's impossible." Cliff stated calmly, crossing his arms and standing his ground. He probably felt as nervous as the rest of the students, however. But he definitely knew how to keep a brave face on.

Meanwhile, Rylin's green eyes widened, a frown making its way onto his face. He'd already snapped. "This is ridiculous! You're all going to believe this shit?! This asshole's just askin' for a fight right now!"

"Quiet!" Monobear shouted in his "not-so-cutesy-anymore" voice. The room went silent once again. "Don't talk over me! Violence against the headmaster is forbidden, and the consequences are heavy."

Rylin looked away, almost defeated. Gabbi looked side to side, trying to gain some input as to what was going on from the others, but everyone's eyes were locked on the bear on the stage.

Monobear cleared his nonexistent throat, and tapped on the mic. "Please, please, students! The rules here are simple. All of you are trapped in this academy and the only way out is to kill. Kill or be killed! Kill one of your classmates here without getting caught, and then you get a one-way-ticket to the outside world! It sounds easy, right?"

All of the students broke into an almost silent panic. They were terrified.

Sara's eyes widened, and she was the first to speak after the first rule was stated. "Wait, what? This has to be a fucking joke. This is shit."

Monobear chuckled. "Oh, this surly isn't an joke! What kind of responsible principal would I be to lie to the students when I only first met them?" He cocked his head to the side.

Webb stood in silence, and the only sight of distress you could see was his clenched fists. His expression behind the mask he wore was a mystery, though one could only predict what his facial expression was.

Chris stepped forward with his fist raised, and Nicole grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. Chris muttered a small 'sorry' before stalking away.

"Anywho, check your pockets! You'll find your ElectroID card safe and sound in there. They contain the map of the floor, along with the school rules!" Monobear paused and let out a small giggle. "You might want to follow them! Breaking school rules just asks for punishment. Your ElectroID card also grants you access to your room and other areas of the school, so make sure you keep it nice and safe, and make sure you don't lose it! Upupupupu!"

Everyone was completely silent. You could hear a pin drop. Someone in the back coughed awkwardly, as Monobear leaped off of the stage and disappeared.

All of the kids in the auditorium approached each other in the middle. Marcus was the first to speak. "Let's all review our rules. Rule one, Students are not permitted to leave the designated areas outside of the school, or outside of any class trip's walls."

Everyone remained silent, except Emmie who started crying softly. Nicole put a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder, which made her cry harder.

Marcus cleared his throat once again. "Rule number two. The period from 10 PM to 7 AM is night time. Certain areas are off limits at this time. Rule three. Students may only sleep in dormitory rooms, but if you would like to sleep in a room besides your own, that is fine. If I find you sleeping anywhere else, punishment is necessary." Marcus paused. "I say that no one is allowed to be outside of the dormitory area at this time. Any objections?"

No one said a word, and the firefighter decided to take that as a yes. Everyone seemed to be alright with those rules, considering the situation they were in.

Cliff scoffed. "Who made you in charge?"

Marcus glowered at Cliff, and continued reading the rules. "I would appreciate it if you didn't interrupt me while I speak, Cliff. Now, if I may, I would like to try to protect you all from any impending doom. Rule number four. You may explore the areas as much as you would like, and there are no restrictions on your movements and actions across the school."

Everyone seemed to be alright with this rule. At least they could explore around the school.

"Maybe we could break into groups later and explore the school?" Connor suggested. Everyone seemed to be alright with that rule, except for Cliff. Webb just danced around behind the group.

'He's so fucking creepy' Nicole thought bitterly.

Marcus nodded at Connor. "That sounds like a very good idea. I say after we finish reviewing the rules, we break into groups and explore. Are there any objections?"

Cliff growled slightly and glanced to the ground. He obviously was going to have an issue trusting people here.

"Alright. Anyway, rule number five. Violence against the headmaster is forbidden. Destruction to surveillance cameras is also forbidden. Consequences will be heavy."

Nervous expressions plastered onto every student's face. It was obvious that it wasn't a joke. Even if everyone had thought so before, it was clear that they would all be staying here for a while.

"Rule number six. A student will only be allowed to graduate if," Marcus paused and gulped, "...if he or she kills one of the other students... In order to graduate, the killer must not be found out by his or her classmates."

Everyone had visible terror plastered on their faces.

"This... this is horrible!" Emmie cried, turning away and hiding her face in her hands. Jason looked ready to start crying, and let in a shaky breath.

Gabbi frowned. "This is really fucking stupid. We can't just kill each other! This is so stupid!"

Rylin looked like he was ready to punch a wall. "This is so fucking ridiculous! When find out whoever is in charge of this, I'm going to beat them to a pulp!"

Everyone stepped away from Rylin. No one wanted to be around someone so... Persistent to hurt someone. But then again, everyone agreed with him. This school is horrible.

They all glanced at each other nervously.

No one could be trusted.

"Well," Chell started, "Maybe we should do what Connor suggested. We should break into groups of three or four and see if we can... Survive here. I'm still pissed about these rules though."

Oliver nodded at Chell. "Yeah. So we should split up now. I'll go with Jason and Kristen."

Kristen raised an eyebrow, and Jason sighed, following Oliver out to the dormitory. They were probably going to explore their rooms, and see what was in there.

"I'll go with Yana and Webb. We'll go and check that hallway over there." Marcus said, pointing towards a long hallway out the left side of the school. The three left immediately, without a word.

Gabbi looked around at all of the students, and chose her group. "Emmie, Jessamine, let's go explore the infirmary, I can see if we have any stuff in case someone gets hurt."

Rylin, Connor and Chell left the room without a word. They were probably going to check out the classrooms they all woke up in.

That left four students. Nicole, Sara, Cliff and Chris.

Nicole cleared her throat. "Uh, wanna go check out the cafeteria and kitchen?"

Sara nodded. She looked visibly distressed, but she was obviously trying to hide it. Her goofy demeanor from before had disappeared completely. The three others felt a little sorry for her. Except maybe Cliff.

Cliff stayed away from the three others, staring at the bolted window and the fake plants.

"Dude, loosen up for a minute." Chris suggested, nudging Cliff in the ribs.

Cliff turned and shot a glare at Chris. "Look, here, DJ. I don't feel like interacting with any of you. This terrible situation doesn't need to be made worse by me making "friends" who are probably going to kill me."

Nicole watched on to the two fighting boys. She decided to defend a very offended Chris. "Look, Cliff. We need to make light in a terrible situation. That's the only way we can survive."

Chris thanked Nicole, and went to observe the refrigerator with Sara. It seemed that they all had the necessities.

Cliff walked out of the kitchen and sat at a table in the cafeteria. He was obviously pissed at Nicole and Chris. He didn't want to trust anyone. He didn't need to become close to people. Everyone he became close to got ripped out of his life. The archer shook his head, clearing thoughts, stood up, and walked to his room.

Chris sighed. "That was rude of him. I was trying to be friendly." The black haired boy sighed. "Well, it looks like we have enough supplies to cook stuff. Multiple people could cook at once, if they felt like it."

"Yeah. But what happens if we run out of food?" Sara asked, observing the vast amounts of pastries.

"I don't think the headmaster would let us starve like that. He'll probably restock all of it." Nicole added.

They were all too busy thinking about their impending doom.

This was going to suck.


	5. Chapter 5

Sara, Nicole and Chris were all too busy thinking about their impending doom. Even though they were all distracting themselves by talking about food supply, each one of them were nervous as fuck.

This was going to suck. This was going to suck so fucking much.

None of the students knew who to trust. No one in the entire building knew who to trust anymore.

You could see Chris eye the cutlery nervously, wondering if someone was plotting murder already. You could just see the 'oh god' look on his face.

He then eyed Nicole and Sara, innocently rummaging through the food supplies on inside of the cabinets. Sara pulled out a whisk and smacked Nicole with it playfully on the neck, as Nicole turned to Sara and flicked her.

'I guess I can trust them...' Chris thought bitterly. He wasn't pleased with being here at all. The DJ placed his headphones onto his ears, and set some light techno music up and bobbed his head to the beat.

Nicole turned to Sara, after counting the amount of cups, plates and bowls. There were 32 of each, two for each student, so they would all have to either take turns doing dishes or wash their own.

"So, Sara. I see that there are donuts here."

Sara turned to the chocolate donuts sitting inside of a box, neatly placed near the fresh pastries. "It seems like I've found some enjoyment here. Other than the peanut butter."

Nicole raised an eyebrow at Sara, holding up two peanut butter jars and moving to put them in her pockets.

"Why?"

"Because peanut butter is the best shit on the planet, that's why."

"""""

Connor, Chell and Rylin examined the hallway to the left of the auditorium. Chell brushed some hair out of her face, glancing to Connor, who was now taking a sweep of the floor, to see if there was some escape switch hidden somewhere.

That kid was pretty ridiculous.

"Connor, you know you aren't going to find anything down there, right?" the actress muttered, attempting to see if any bolts were loose on the steel covered windows.

Connor grinned slightly, turning away from the actress, and he gave her a small pout. "It's the thought that counts, Chell! I wanna see if there's a trick in here. It -would- make things interesting!"

But Rylin on the other hand seemed fairly interested in something else. The two others glanced at him confusedly, and the hockey player pointed to the wall in front of them. It was blue, while the other parts of the wall were purple. "This... This is where we woke up! There's a wall here!"

The volume in his voice rose with each syllable. Chell and Connor fell silent, Chell gawking at the wall, letting out a small "no way".

The hallway with the classrooms used to be there, which hit the three students with a sudden shock. The classrooms that the students awoke in were completely gone.

Rylin felt pure anxiety and rage overcome him, as he walked up to the wall and punched it with all his might. He grunted, regretting what he just did. His instincts told him to see if he could punch through it and have an escape, but he was wrong. There was some sort of concrete in the wall, it wasn't hollow or insulated on the inside like normal walls would be.

Chell's eyes widened at Rylin's sudden violence. "Whoa, whoa! Why'd you do that?!"

Rylin turned away slightly. "I felt frustrated."

The actress raised an eyebrow at the hockey player, who had a straight face but pain was showing in his eyes. She sighed, without another word.

Connor on the other hand, was examining the new wall. "It looks like the paint has been dry for a long time, how could this happen?"

The only conclusion he could think of was if they were knocked out for a week, but that was in impossibility. Rylin gripped his hand lightly, he knew that he had sprained it.

"Do you need to go to the infirmary?" Connor gently asked the taller teen. Rylin shrugged.

"I'm used to the pain, I get into fights a lot so I have a pretty high tolerance. I could use some cake though. Sugar is a true healer."

Chell raised an eyebrow once again and bit her lip. What kind of dude /was/ Rylin? First, he gets all aggressive, then he acts like some super soft guy? Well, she'd have to find out eventually.

"""""""

Marcus, Yana and Webb walked into the cafeteria without a word, other than Yana going on about how it's common curtesy to treat a lady nicely, as Marcus slightly ignored her words, tuning her out.

She seemed to have a real complex about rude people. He decided that she was just motherly, and that she was looking out for the others, however Yana payed too much attention to others and not as much to herself.

"So, what I'm sayin' is that holding a door for a lady is the way to go! If you don't, you just look like a real big jerk." Yana laughed, as Marcus chuckled nervously.

There was nothing interesting in the hallway to the left, other than a large gate at the end. He assumed that the school had another floor, but it was blocked off. Maybe something was going on up there?

"What might this be?" The firefighter asked himself. Well, he asked Yana, but she took a moment to reply."

"I guess it's some sorta gate to keep us away from something. Boy, I'm pretty curious," she laughed lightly, "hopefully we can get through someday..."

Marcus sighed, defeated. "Well, I guess this investigation was a lost cause. Oh, well. Maybe something will change and it'll open up. Maybe this sick school has something prepared for us, and they're waiting for something to happen before letting us in."

Yana nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I think so too. Come to think of it, that Monobear must've had a rough childhood. I mean, what kind of upbringing would he have to have gone through to be so evil?" she sounded devestated. Marcus sighed.

"Monobear is an inanimate object, and therefore cannot have had a 'rough childhood'. If anyone or anything had a rough childhood, it would be the puppetmaster, the one controlling Monobear."

You could see a bit of sweat go down Yana's head as she chuckled nervously. "Ahaha... yeah... that's right..."

Meanwhile, Webb was staring downwards slightly.

Webb wanted to preform, but he was stuck at this school. It seemed that he had an ache to preform after a certain amount of time out of the spotlight. It's already been a few days, but a few days without making people laugh was like a month to the poor harlequin.

Maybe he could preform in the evenings to his classmates?

No. It's not satisfying enough. Not as satisfying as a full, cheering, laughing audience. It wasn't the same. It wouldn't ever be the same for him, now that he was trapped in the school. Behind the mask, his face was solemn.

He lived to preform. It was his elixir, his reason to live. Without it, where would he be? Webb came to this school to entertain, to learn, and to be the most successful harlequin ever, become rich, and work for the best circus in the world.

But all the dreams, all the practicing, all of the acts that he had been studying since day one had been wasted, flushed down the toilet of life and now he was forced to live life in here, with zero hope of preforming in front of a live audience ever again.

Webb looked up again, and a small, genuine smile grew on his face. What's a few lives lost? People died all the time! He even witnessed circus accidents, it didn't matter if a few people died here and there, everyone's gotta die eventually!

As he learned as a child, "the show must go on, no matter what"

Yana tapped Webb on the shoulder, catching his attention. The harlequin glanced up at the maid, who smiled softly.

"C'mon, hun. Marcus just left, let's go back to the cafeteria."

And with that, she left Webb standing all alone in the hallway.


	6. Chapter 6

Emmie, Jessamine and Gabbi rummaged around with the cabinets in the infirmary. Jessamine seemed particularly pleased to see different assortments of facial products and different types of makeup. In hell, she saw a small spark of heaven.

"Hey Gabbi! I think this would totally go great with your complexion!" Jessamine suggested, holding up a stick of blue eye liner. Gabbi grimaced slightly.

"I'm... not too big of a makeup person... thanks though."

Jessamine giggled, twirling a lock of her perfectly curled hair around her index finger. "Oh, nonsense! You just haven't found what you're comfortable with!"

Emmie found some bandages and gauze, and held them up. "Hey guys, this stuff's for minor cuts and scrapes. And there's also some medication, like ibuprofen and tylenol and some medication for colds, sore throats, and stomachaches. There's nothing here for any major wounds."

Emmie shuddered.

Jessamine looked horrified. "W-wait! What if we find someone half dead and we can't treat them?!"

Monobear popped up out of nowhere, and Emmie screeched. Gabbi took a step behind Jessamine, while Jessamine's eyes widened. He had been listening in the entire time.

"Ah, not to worry! If they're dying, what's the point in saving them? Wouldn't it be best to let them bleed out and end their misery? Upupupu!"

Gabbi muttered a low "oh my god".

When none of the girls responded, Monobear disappeared once again. The three girls exchanged glances.

"Um, I really hope this nightmare ends soon..." Emmie said in a small voice, practically shrinking into herself. Jessamine patted the shorter girl's head sympathetically. Emmie felt tears prickling the corners of her eyes, but she let out a shaky sigh and continued rummaging through the cabinets.

Gabbi opened a lower cabinet under a sink, and let out a loud "AHA!"

"What?" Jessamine and Emmie asked at the same time. Gabbi pulled out a small kit, with needle and thread.

"I think this stuff," she held the box up, "can be used for stitching. Do either of you know how to sew?"

Jessamine raised her hand.

"If someone has a gash, do you think you could sew it up for them?" Gabbi asked. Jessamine nodded slowly. Gabbi smirked, and chuckled.

"I guess we -can- save anyone. As long as we're super cautious and watch for trouble, that is."

"""""""

Kristen fiddled with her room key, and swiped it into her door. It let out a loud 'click', and the prankster let out a victorious "hm!" when she saw her packed suitcase on her bed. Along with the suitcase sitting on top of the bed with the purple blankets, she also had some posters up on her walls, seemingly from her old room, and there was a bathroom inside of her room.

Opening the case, she pulled out her laptop, and about two weeks' worth of clothes and pajamas. She also had a stuffed black and white cat with her, six books, a rubber chicken and a bunch of little pranks that she could fart around with. She also pulled out a picture frame, which had a picture of her and her parents, and she let out a sigh of relief, knowing that her possessions were safe and sound.

Right after she set up her bed and set the picture frame on her bedside table, she heard a loud knocking on her door. She groaned internally, and sauntered to the door, before swinging it open to see Oliver.

"Oh hey." Kristen said, and Oliver peered around her to see the girl's stuff laying sprawled out on the floor. Oliver let out a disapproved noise.

"We're here for five minutes and you've already trashed your room."

Kristen was offended. "Excuse me, you knock on my door and you insult me. Leave, please."

Oliver raised his hands in front of him defensively. "Whoa there, tiger. I was only kidding! I was just going to ask you if you got your stuff back from the sadistic bear, and I was right. I already spoke to Jason about it, he's in his room right now playing with his guitar. He's got the room next to yours.

Oliver gave Kristen the 'I'll be right back.' look, before zooming to Jason's room, and gathering the confused boy in mere seconds.

"Uh, what are we doing? Oliver came in and told me to come without saying else...?" Jason asked softly, eyeing the two in front of him.

"We should go back to the cafeteria to meet up with the others. I think our info would be useful..." Oliver finished, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Kristen let out a small 'noooo', before quickly obeying the two boys who were now glaring at her.

"Um, let's go." the bass player sighed, leading Kristen and Oliver out of the dormitory wing.

"""""""

Just as Sara was about to take a huge bite out of her peanut butter sandwich, every group walked into the cafeteria at the exact same time. Sara let out a large drawn out groan, before standing up and joining the group. Nicole laughed at her friend.

Nicole watched Rylin, Chell and Connor's nervous facial expressions. She had a gut feeling as to what was coming.

"So... what's happening...?" Nicole asked carefully. Rylin looked panicked, before clearing his throat.

"The classrooms we woke up in... they're gone..."

"W-what?! What do you mean?!" Yana practically shrieked. Marcus' eyes widened slowly.

Webb's fists clenched.

Rylin had a frustrated look on his face, as he wrapped a newly acquired ace bandage around his sprained hand. "I meant what I said! There's a wall directly where the hallway used to be!"

"He's right, you know." Chell finished, crossing her arms. "They're gone. I remember clearly walking out of a hallway there, and it disappeared as if it had never been there at all."

Marcus scoffed. "That's completely impossible!"

"It's possible alright." Chell interrupted, glaring at Marcus. "I saw it with my eyes. I don't think Rylin, Connor or I would lie about something that stupid. And I'm usually not a hugely serious person, but this was terrifying."

Nicole stood there in utter silence, her mouth gaping open. "Wait. They're gone?! How is that even possible?!" she was nearly shouting. "How could they build it so fast?! I'm going to go check."

"I will too." Gabbi agreed, following Nicole out into the hallway to investigate. The other students, even Cliff, trickled into the hallway after the two.

They all made their way there and stood around the oddly colored new wall, in complete silence. No one dared to speak. Until Nicole spoke up.

"Oh my god." Nicole managed to choke out. The reality of the situation just crashed down on her like a pile of bricks.

Sara's eyes widened*1, taking a step back. Emmie did the same, only she covered her mouth with two hands.

All the students silently walked back into the cafeteria.

The rest of the day was spent in near silence, conversation barely taking place. Only a few people managed to start conversation, and Connor and Jason spoke quietly to each other at the dinner table.

No one touched their full plates at dinnertime, all except for Rylin, who quietly ate a piece of cake. Yana quietly suggested that they should eat, because it was bad for their health to skip meals, but no one really decided to listen to her.

Marcus tried to decide wether or not he should've created more rules, but he decided against it.

After dinnertime, everyone agreed to go to bed early.

Nicole flopped onto her bed and started sobbing.

Little did she know, that in the morning, the students' lives would be changed forever.


	7. Chapter 7

Nicole woke up in the morning with a pounding headache and burning eyes. 'I only got about two hours of sleep' she thought bitterly, checking the alarm clock on her bedside table to see it switch from 6:59 to 7:00. The girl heard a ringing voice in her ears, and she yelped.

"Good morning, you bastards! It's 7:00! Time to do our best today!"

'Why do I always wake up before any alarms go off...' Nicole groaned internally, throwing on her usual outfit and stalking out the door to the cafeteria. She was the fourth one there, after Webb, Gabbi and Jessamine, and the others trickled inside the room to gather their breakfasts.

No one felt like cooking at the time, so everybody settled for danishes and donuts. And no one complained about it either.

Nicole nibbled on a particularly delectable apple turnover when she heard a gasp in the cafeteria. It came from Emmie, and she looked horribly concerned. "Jason isn't here."

Marcus and Chris said "what?!" at the same time, before the former of the two stood up and jogged out of the room, before the latter quickly followed. Nicole stood up after, and scurried out of the room.

There was a search. Marcus and Chris had let Nicole join them, and his room was unlocked, and they opened his door ever so slowly.

The bedroom was empty, as was the bathroom. It was almost like he had never slept that night. It was unlocked like the other rooms had been before getting their room key. His suitcase was sitting on his bed, too, and looked like it hasn't been opened yet.

"I have a really bad feeling about this..." Chris mumbled, rummaging through the drawers.

"I don't believe we'll find anything in there, Chris." Marcus announced, leaving the room. Chris quickly shut the drawer, and Nicole stood up from crouching on the floor.

Emmie approached the three. "Did you find him in his room?" she asked frantically. Nicole shook her head, looking like she was going to be sick.

"It's only been one night. There's no way someone could've fallen for this..." Chris stated, looking down slightly.

"He's right. We gotta look somewhere else." Nicole sighed.

A few seconds later, the firefighter appeared, coming back from the cafeteria. "I'm going to go ahead and look around in the west wing. Will you three look inside of the infirmary?" Marcus asked.

"Sure." Chris sighed, slightly rushing towards the nurse's office.

When the three arrived, the infirmary was empty. It looked like it hadn't been touched, and the only thing missing was the ace bandages that Rylin used to wrap his hand.

"God damn it." Nicole muttered, glancing left and right. Emmie let out a small sigh as well, and Chris was silent. He slipped his headphones back onto his ears.

Stepping back into the cafeteria to meet the others, where none of them were there anymore, they heard a shriek. A loud, ear melting scream.

"Oh my god!"

Chris and Nicole sprinted out to the East wing, where they saw a corpse at the end of the hallway. Nicole's eyes widened, and felt her knees buckle. Chris slowly crept up to the body.

It was Jason. His body was sprawled out in front of the gates to the second floor. He was sitting upright, and his top half was bent to the left in an awkward, contorted way. The front of his shirt was covered in blood, as was his mouth and chin.

Nicole let out a loud, bellowing shriek, as a few students sprinted in. Chris ran away from the hallway, holding his hand to his mouth. He was probably about to vomit.

The scream from before was Gabbi. She was now lying on the ground a few feet in front of Jason, passed out. Marcus appeared, scooped her up and jogged out of the hallway, probably to take her to the infirmary.

Emmie was currently sobbing, muttering a small 'this can't be real' to herself. Jessamine backed up a few steps, eyes widened and hands covering her mouth and nose. Connor just appeared, screamed periodically and darted out of the room.

Webb stood there in silence, staring at the corpse in front of him. His body visibly tensed up to the corpse. He turned away.

Sara walked into the hallway unknowingly. She then gagged multiple times, and sprinted out of the hall, probably to go vomit in her room. Poor girl, with her weak stomach.

"What was that?!" Cliff shouted, frowning, walking slowly up to the students. Emmie, Nicole and Jessamine were blocking the body, and they frantically parted, letting Cliff eye the body.

The archer raised an eyebrow. "What do you think happened?"

"What do you think, dude? He was murdered." Jessamine both insulted, and informed Cliff. Cliff considered glaring at the cosmetologist, but decided against it. He was too busy eyeing the body skeptically.

Yana wandered into the hallway.

"Oh my gosh! What happened?" She asked frantically, looking to the others for input. No one replied.

"He's dead. Jason's dead. He's dead..." Emmie cried, hiding her face in her hands. The not-as-severely-crying Jessamine took her out of the crime scene, probably to console her elsewhere. Jessamine muttered something along the lines of 'my makeup is running thanks to this stupid school'.

The intercom made a loud, squeaking sound. "A body has been discovered! Please report to the auditorium!"

Nicole and Yana's eyes widened, and they all made their way into the auditorium.

""""""""

"The rules are, that if a student's body is discovered, you get the day to investigate! And in the evening, you all get to partake in a trial!"

"A trial?" Yana asked, sounding slightly worried. Webb adjusted the jester's hat on his head.

"Yes, sillies! A trial! You know, a live court discussion! You find the culprit, get it right, and then he or she gets executed!" Monobear shouted into the microphone on stage. Nicole felt a shiver run down her spine.

"Execution?" someone unrecognizable asked from the audience.

"Yep! Execution! Where the culprit gets punished for their crimes! And what's best is that if you vote wrong, the culprit gets off scott free while the rest of you suffer!"

A huge wave of nervous murmurs were heard from the audience.

"Well, have fun, bastards!"

Monobear bounced off of the stage into nothingness, while the students slowly left, either helping with the investigation or hiding from the corpse. Some students were still crying.

""""""""

Cliff bent down and closed the bass guitarist's eyes for him, before gently turning the body over. Nicole took in a shaky breath, before crouching next to him and Yana.

"What do you think the murder weapon was?"

Cliff lifted the boy's shirt gently, before seeing a black and blue, small, bloody hole in his back. "It looks like he was impaled with something small and blunt. And, there's a small bloody track of the small hole leading out of the hallway.

It didn't exactly look like a footprint, but a small sort of stamp that looked like it was used as footsteps.

"Do you think it was a pole of some sort, and someone tried to... make a track but... failed?" Nicole tried. Cliff shook his head briskly.

"Nope. No one would be able to get a pole here. But nice try. Looks like it's the heel to some sort of shoe... maybe it could've been the blunt end of a hammer or knife, but there's no sign of a stab wound. Maybe a gavel?"

Nicole felt stupid now. And Cliff seemed to be more talkative during this investigation. It was kind of interesting.

"That makes more sense..." Nicole muttered.

Yana stood up suddenly. "Sorry to leave so suddenly, but I have some business to take care of." She walked out of the room, the sound of her shoes clanking loudly against the ground.

Chris wiped his mouth with his sleeve, hesitantly shuffling towards the group of two, with Chell following suit.

"Marcus told the group what happened..." Chell started softly, "Do you know how it happened?"

Cliff looked annoyed. "I really hope I don't have to keep repeating myself. He was killed with a blunt object, by either the handle to a knife, the handle to a hammer or a high heel shoe, and it's probably the shoe, considering the track of blood going down the hallway."

Chell nodded, looking at anything but the corpse, and Chris sighed.

"I can't believe someone did this on the first night." Chris sighed, bending down to look at the wound. "Sheesh, this is really gross."

"No dip." Chell flatly said from about ten feet away.

The other students were either crying elsewhere, vomiting or sitting quietly, avoiding the situation. Honestly, Nicole couldn't blame them. This situation was still horribly shocking.

"What other evidence did you find?" Nicole asked awkwardly to the archer. She kind of felt bad about not helping too much, but what was she to do?

"I think we should check out any girls' high heeled shoes. The girls that wear them are Jessamine and Yana, so it'd be best to investigate in their rooms for now." Cliff suggested. Chell, Chris and Nicole all agreed to Cliff's statement, and they all followed the first of the group out into the cafeteria.

It's time for the investigation to commence.

 

((A/N 8/11/13: Yo! This is a re-post of the story, I edited some things, and such. Sorry I deleted it and re-posted it suddenly, hahaha...))


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey guys! Ugh, last chapter was kinda short. I’m sorry about that, I kind of suck, and I wish it had been more exciting for you all to read... :/  
> I haven’t had too much inspiration to write since I’m REALLY busy for the next few days, but I’m trying. Inspiration doesn’t come overnight. Please respect that!! I’m going to a party for two days, and then I’m going on a trip for a week, but I will -TRY- to write during that time. And then school starts for me on September 5th, so writing will be a bit more scarce. But I’ll still write, I just don’t wanna be pushed, because really, nagging doesn’t make me write faster.
> 
> (this shit's copied and pasted from my account on fanfiction.net)

“I think we should check out any girls’ high heeled shoes. The girls that wear them are Jessamine and Yana, so it’d be best to investigate in their rooms for now.” Cliff suggested. Chell, Chris and Nicole all agreed to Cliff’s statement, and they all followed the first of the group out into the cafeteria. There, they all saw Marcus, Kristen, Oliver, Yana, Jessamine and Webb.

“Is Gabbi doing alright?” Nicole asked Marcus. He nodded. 

“Yes, she’s doing fine. She’s currently resting in the infirmary, she just passed out from seeing Jason’s body.”

Marcus had a hard, yet still nervous expression on his face. The few students paying attention made a note of this.

“This is so horrible. I have such a headache now.” Oliver muttered, taking off his glasses and cleaning them. His eyes were reddened from crying. Nicole’s heart wrenched when she saw him.

Cliff decided to move on in the matters of the investigation, however. “Jessamine, Yana, may I speak with you in the hallway for a moment?”

Jessamine’s face, as well as Yana’s twisted into pure nerves. Nicole felt a little terrible for them. They’re being singled out, maybe she could help.  
 “Uh, Cliff? You mind if I join you?”

The shorter blonde turned to Nicole with a slightly irritated, yet relieved expression on his face. “You helped out in examining the victim’s body, unlike the other weaklings here. I’m going to need your help in this.” He turned away and muttered a small ‘thanks’.

Nicole felt a little less useless now, a small grin growing on her face. “Alright!” she chirped.

Meanwhile, Sara stalked back into the cafeteria with a soured expression on her face, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Poor girl. She looked like she had just died.

Okay, that wasn’t a funny joke at a time like this. The instrumentalist slapped herself in her mind, feeling horrible for that internal remark.

Cliff had already begun to exit the cafeteria with the two confused girls, and Nicole followed behind them. She heard Emmie call Jessamine’s name, but it wasn’t heard. The blonde was too busy glancing at Cliff nervously.

Once the four had exited the cafeteria and walked into the hallway, Cliff had told them to sit down and take their heels off. The girls both obeyed, Jessamine slipping hers off and Yana unclipping the straps on them.

Yana looked fairly annoyed, slightly clueless. “Why are we doing this?!”

“You were with Nicole and myself when I said the murder weapon was blunt, and it could’ve been a high heeled shoe or something. Plus, I’m an archer, and I’m good with that stuff. Don’t question me.”

Cliff examined the nervous and silent Jessamine’s shoe, which was clean and had nothing on it, just the black plastic. They weren’t actual high heeled shoes, they were wedged heels, and it would be difficult to impale someone with wedged shoes. Cliff handed the shoes back to Jessamine.

“You’re free to go, you obviously didn’t have anything to do with this.”

Jessamine looked ready to cry, stood up and started to scurry away. “Thank you.” 

Nicole picked Yana’s left high heeled shoe, which wasn’t a wedged heel, and it had a blood stain on it. How the maid didn’t see that appalled her.”

“Yana. There’s blood on your shoe.” Nicole muttered, much to her discomfort. Yana looked horrified.

“What?! That can’t be!”

“And why not?” Cliff shot the dirtiest glare Nicole had ever seen at the poor maid. She looked ready to start crying.

“I-I went to directly to my room last night and fell asleep!” Yana shouted, snatching her heel out of Nicole’s hands, and Cliff snatched the heel out of Yana’s hands, handing it back to Nicole.

Cliff crossed his arms, and stood up. Yana acted pretty serious about her claim, and Nicole looked like she didn’t know what to believe anymore.

“This just doesn’t add up. I don’t think the murderer would have left the evidence this obviously.” The archer murmured.

“Maybe... now bear with me on this, maybe she was framed?” Nicole asked. Cliff turned to her and snapped his fingers, signifying that his thoughts had been stated by someone other than himself.

“Bingo. There’s something fishy about this whole thing. One, why was Jason outside of his room, and two, why was Yana possibly framed?”

The maid had a look of realization on her face. “I forgot to lock my room last night.” she said quietly. Both Nicole and Cliff’s eyes widened as they both turned towards the maid with both a look of confusion and horror.

“What?!”

“Well hon, I’m quite the heavy sleeper. I went out for some tea last night... Maybe around ten thirty? I didn’t keep track, but tea helps me sleep...” Yana finished.

“I heard a rattling on my doorknob last night, kind of abruptly, and my door was locked.” Nicole remembered. She had heard her doorknob move, like someone had been trying to get into her room. Maybe the culprit had tried everyone’s doors to see if they could frame someone.

“Me too. I thought maybe someone had mistaken my room for theirs, but this is quite... odd...” Cliff added to Nicole’s claim. 

Nicole had a thought strike. “Maybe we could ask the others?”

“That’s a good plan.” Cliff muttered. 

Yana seemed to have relaxed much more since the heat wasn’t directed at her anymore. Not that she had done anything, however.

All three of them had returned to the cafeteria, and Marcus stood up abruptly, followed by Chris and Chell.

“Well?! Did you find anything?!” Marcus asked, sounding obnoxiously eager, his usually boisterous voice echoing throughout the room.

“Shut the fuck up. I feel sick to my stomach and your obnoxious voice is hurting my ears.” Sara shot bitterly, resting her head on the table in her arms. She did just vomit, after all.

Marcus shot Sara the smallest of glares, but still stood up. Cliff cleared his throat.

“Yes, we did, but nothing seems to add up. Yana here’s shoe was covered in blood,” Cliff started, being interrupted by a roar of students’ yells directed at the Maid. The polite maid cowered into herself a bit, muttering about how the impoliteness of these students’ was making her head spin.

“Guys, let the dude finish, give him a break!” Kristen shouted, which quickly shut the rest of the kids up. Sara groaned in her arms.

“Thank you, Kristen.”

“You’re welcome!”

“Anyway,” Cliff cleared his throat, “I believe someone has tried to frame Yana for murder.”


	9. Chapter 9

“I believe someone has tried to frame Yana for murder.” Cliff stated, coldly glaring at the rest of the students, most of them noticeably tensing up.

Jessamine glanced down at her feet, shakily brushing a curl of her blonde hair out of her face. Her eyes were filled with horror, as she looked up from her makeup mirror. “Why would someone do this?! I’ve had to reapply my makeup twice now!”

Sara glared at the cosmetologist. “Is makeup seriously your main concern right now?”

“So?! I have to look good, I’d be a wreck if it weren’t for my makeup! And I do care about the situation, you can’t go assuming that I don’t.” 

Sara scoffed. “Half of the girls here don’t wear makeup, and there you are sitting with your makeup mirror applying that crap to your face when some serious shit is going down. Someone fucking died, and all you care about is how you look. I don’t want to talk to you.” She snapped, shooting a glare at the blonde and standing up, walking towards the other side of the table. 

“You don’t know me! Don’t assume that I’m a careless person because I’m not!” The cosmetologist shouted, looking horribly offended.

Sara didn’t continue speaking to the blonde, ignoring her words. The critic pulled out her phone and swiped her finger against it. Jessamine decided to give up.

Emmie sniffed, covering her face with her hands. Her voice was slightly muffled. “What are we going to do?! We can’t risk our lives for this! We can’t fight right now!” 

“She’s right!” Rylin shouted suddenly, slamming his fist onto the table. “We need to catch this culprit! If not, we all die! We can’t let this fuckin’ murderer go without a fight! We need to get out of this god damned place!”

The students heard a quiet attention inducing cough. It was Connor.

“Um, maybe we could calm down a bit and look for some evidence?” Connor suggested, hinting towards the dorm rooms. Emmie visibly shuddered.

Webb suddenly stood up, nearly knocking his chair over in the process, and sauntered towards the hallway where the dorm rooms were without a word.A few moments of stunned silence later, the students heard a door slam shut. The harlequin must have went to his room. It was predictable that the clown would crack under pressure.

“Guys... Harlequins are clowns, just quieter, right? Maybe they’re...” Connor started, sounding horrified.

“They’re sneaky. Even I know that one. I’ve had to do an episode on my show with evil clowns. It isn’t pretty.” Chell added. Cliff held his hand up in front of the taller actress, stopping her. 

“Now hold on just a second. Where exactly was Webb last night after dinner?” 

Each of the students exchanged rather... interested glances towards each other. Cliff smirked.

“He went directly to his room. At least, that’s what he wants us to think.”

Suddenly, the students each got a text on their ElectroID cards that they had retrieved after the opening ceremony.

Victim: Jason Marcoich. Talent: Bass Guitarist.  
Status: Dead.  
Time of Death: 11:53 PM  
Cause of Death: Beaten to death, sudden trauma to the head. Also has signs of broken ribs.

Nicole’s eyes widened as she chocked out a few select words. “Jason... Jason was... beaten to death.”

A gasp emitted across the entire cafeteria. Cliff’s eyes widened.

“This doesn’t make sense! I-I saw the stab wound myself!” Nicole stuttered.

Cliff put his chin in his hand and thought for a moment. “Maybe the killer decided to frame someone by using a different weapon after the victim had already died? It seems to me that he was beaten to death, and then stabbed with the shoe in the back to make it look like he was stabbed.”

Yana frowned. “That doesn’t make too much sense, honey. I know that blood doesn’t continue to flow after someone dies, and there was a lot of blood on the wall.”

Cliff glared at the ground. “Fuck, that’s true.”

“Maybe he was beaten to death with something else after he was stabbed?” Kristen added, shrugging her shoulders. She might as well give in her two cents to the investigation, she hadn’t been saying much all day. No one had...

“That is a possibility.”

Oliver raised his hand. “If I could make a suggestion,” he paused. “maybe we should go investigate the dorm rooms? Like what Connor suggested?” 

Connor sighed slightly, looking away. All this attention so suddenly kinda made him feel awkward.

“That sounds like an exceptional idea.” Marcus announced, boisterously sauntering out of the cafeteria in a sudden rush to find evidence.

The students proceeded split up once more, all continuing their investigation in the dorm rooms.


	10. Chapter 10

Nicole, Cliff and Oliver stepped away from the dorm room halls, as the remaining students walked into their respective rooms to look for some evidence. In groups, that is. Oliver sighed.

“Should we look for signs on Jason’s body to see where he was beaten to death? I mean, there was so much blood, I don’t understand how he could be killed that easily.”

Nicole nodded her head, also curious as to what caused the Bass Guitarist’s death. It was obviously being beaten, but they needed to figure out the order in which things happened.

Cliff agreed with the two students, and they snuck away from the others to check Jason’s body.

They remembered that Jason’s shirt had already been removed, due to them checking out the deep, puncture wound in his back. They already knew that Yana’s high heeled shoe had done that deed, but she hadn’t known about it at all. 

There was a chance she was faking it, but the crime was so obvious, she probably didn’t do it.

Cliff kneeled down, as Oliver gently rolled Jason onto his back. Nicole felt her eyes water a little, as she rubbed them with her arm. God, this was terrible. Someone died on the first night.   
 It was unreal.

Cliff felt around Jason’s chest, and his eyes flickered to a look of realization. “Dammit. From what it seems like, his sternum feels shattered, like it isn’t even there anymore. The death was probably instantaneous.”

Nicole’s face twisted up. “Wait, so since there’s blood everywhere, do you think that he was stabbed first, and then beaten?”

The archer nodded at the taller girl. “It seems like it. We didn’t even think about looking at his chest, either. He has a huge bruise where he was killed. I kind of feel sorry for the guy.”

“This is shit.” Oliver sighed. He still hadn’t come to terms with the reality of the situation.

””””””””””

Gabbi Arrington woke up with a groan and a pounding headache. She placed a hand to her forehead, and sighed loudly to herself.  
 What in the fuck just happened? She felt disorientated as her mind clicked into place.

The illusionist’s eyes widened a bit, memories rushing back to her, as she stood up and pulled up her skinny jeans. She couldn’t believe someone had died. She fe Her weakness to blood wasn’t a very lovely quality to have...

Gabbi grimaced, shuffling out of the infirmary and into the hallway, where she saw Emmie and Jessamine looking for evidence inside of Webb’s room, with the harlequin looking on by the sidelines- the dude didn’t really seem to appreciate the two girls looking through his belongings.

The girl narrowly avoided the creepy clown, and joined the two other girls. “Hey guys...”

Emmie squeaked, and a flash of fear was plastered on Jessamine’s face. They both swiveled around at once.

“Gabbi! You’re awake!”

The illusionist sighed. These two were the only ones who she could trust in this place. And she had just seen a dead body, which really didn’t make her too pleased.

“Yeah... I just woke up. But wow, I have a gnarly headache right now. Jeez.”

Emmie looked a bit concerned. “Um, do you want me to walk you to the infirmary? Maybe you could take some aspirin...”

Gabbi waved it off nonchalantly, fixing the bandana in her hair. “Naaah... I can rough it! I don’t really feel like going back anyway. It’ll pass. Plus, I don’t really like swallowing pills. I hate the way they sliver down my throat.”

Jessamine giggled at that wordlessly, and Emmie looked away and sighed. Some people didn’t know how to take care of themselves correctly.

Jessamine looked under Webb’s bed and gasped, pulling out a juggling pin.

It was covered in blood.

”””””””””””

Jessamine shrieked so loudly, that everyone in the hallway’s eyes widened as they all poured into the Harlequin’s room.

“Holy shit?!” Kristen gasped, staring at the blood stained pin. Webb removed his mask, revealing his face for the first time to the group. 

“Whoa, what the fuck?!” The clown had finally spoken. “That wasn’t there earlier, jesus shit.” 

Everyone’s eyes widened as they turned to the clown who had just ripped off his mask. He had also removed his hat in the process of all of it.

Webb turned out to have a very scrawny looking face, with gray eyes and short dark purple hair. He also had a large scar running up the side of his face. He noticed people staring.

“It’s a scar from an accident. Ignore it.”

The others sighed, and Marcus started pointing and shouting.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

“You dirty murderer!” Chris butted in, also joining in. “You sick piece of shit!”

Webb started to grow more frustrated the more the others had talked. He was starting to get -very- agitated, as his face twisted into a frown. His mouth twitched downwards. “Would I be so obvious in my crime, hiding the evidence in my own bedroom?”

Marcus closed his mouth, as did Chris. But the latter began sputtering random obscenities, before grunting.

The DJ turned around and stalked out the door. “I don’t believe you!~”

The rest of the room remained silent for a few moments, unsure of what to say and who to believe.

Webb sighed, breaking the silence, and picked up the blunt weapon off the floor, where Jessamine had flung it when she discovered it. The harlequin observed it and growled.

“Whoever did this is a really shitty ass framer. Framing the maid girl, and framing me.” The clown turned around. He was completely out of character, outside of his usual goofy self. He must’ve let that go for a while. “Pathetic.”

Yana sighed, muttering something along the lines of ‘it’s impolite to not call someone by their name’. Inside her mind, a dark aura obscured her. She liked neither swearer or accusers. They both... disgusted her.

Cliff, Nicole and Oliver barreled into the room. Chris must’ve given the news to the three of them.

“So what’s new with you three?” Sara asked, as she crossed her arms and frowned. Nicole sighed, but Cliff spoke before her.

“Jason had an automatic death. He didn’t have any trauma to the head, but it felt like his ribs and sternum were shattered.”

Kristen raised an eyebrow. “What’d you do, feel the dude up?”  Cliff went red with both embarrassment and rage. “S-Shut up! I felt for injuries! And this isn’t the time for joking around!”

Kristen shrugged. “It’s what I do.”

Oliver looked panicked, just as he did when he ran into the room with the two others. “I heard that Webb killed Jason!”

Cliff groaned lightly. “I already told you not to make assumptions. Obviously, the culprit wouldn’t leave the evidence in his room! It’s too obvious!”

“But he was beaten to death, wasn’t he? Wouldn’t it not be a blow to the chest?” Rylin asked, scratching his head with his uninjured hand. “Damn, this is shitty.”   
Jessamine turned to glare at the hockey player, a hint in her eyes. “Aren’t you famous for the fights you get in during hockey games? And you’ve never lost a fight there, either.”

Rylin gasped. “Wait, what?! If you’re sayin’ I killed the dude, you’re wrong. I can’t believe this.” 

Rylin stalked out of the room. “I’m gettin’ some fuckin’ cake now, yo.”

A few minutes of discussion and arguments later, a large sparky sounding noise happened, before a buzzing voice hit the ears of the fifteen students. The school speaker system had been turned on.

“Ahem, attention, attention! Your investigation time is now up! Please meet at the hallway with the elevator! Upupupupu~”

Nicole felt her heart skip a beat, as she looked on to the remaining students. It seemed that everyone was feeling just as nervous as her. 

They all stalked to the hallway, all feeling the same amount of dread. Even Marcus, who’s usual boisterous self seemed to had settled down. He went on about how he would make sure they’d stay safe, but everyone felt a bit uneasy.

Webb sighed to himself. Chris turned to glare at the harlequin, and Gabbi sighed, realizing that she should’ve taken the aspirin after all. Nicole stepped into the elevator first, with the rest of the students following her nervously.   
They all were thinking the same thing.

Fifteen would step into the court room.  
 Fourteen would leave safely.

Or, there was a possibility of one. And the rest would be left to die.

(AO3 COMMENT: I keep forgetting to update so here, have three chapters)


	11. Chapter 11

Nicole stepped into the elevator first, with the rest of the students following her nervously. Following her was Oliver, then Chell, and then the rest of the students. Cliff glanced nervously behind him, before being the last to step on.

The elevator made a few screeching noises, as the machine shifted, shakily going down.

“So... this is it I guess..” Chell sighed, brushing her bangs out of her face. Chris made a noise of disapproval, and Connor winced.

“Don’t be so negative... we... we gotta look on the bright side! I’m sure we’ll find the culprit!” The animator smiled, but the smile faltered as the elevator landed on the ground. 

The fifteen students all nervously shuffled out of the elevator, walking towards the podium, as Monobear popped up out from behind a large judge’s seat. It was decorated in plenty of black ribbons, and on top of it adorned a large, red button and a mallet. 

The different podiums were different stands, each assigned to a specific person. The front left one had a large picture of Jason, with a huge red ‘X’ on it.

“Welcome, bastards, to your first school trial!” Monobear cheered, raising a paw to his face and letting out his usual chuckle. “You all better start debating...” he paused. “But I’m a very generous bear. A generous bear indeed! In fact, I’m beary generous! So, I’ll let you bastards ask some questions before the trial starts!”

Monobear twirled around. A scowl of disapproval grew on Chell’s face.

Connor raised his hand. “Why’s there a picture of Jason?”  
Monobear cackled, rather than giggled. “Ahahaha! I couldn’t just leave Jason out of the loop! That would’ve hurt his feelings, I’m sure!”

“Stop fuckin’ around and let us catch this culprit, yo!” Rylin growled, crossing his arms. 

Monobear looked down to his feet, before looking up with an odd gleam in his red eye. “Let the trial...”

“BEGIN!”

”””””””””””  
NONSTOP DEBATE!

KRISTEN: Let’s get down to business.

SARA: *whispering* to defeat... the huns....

KRISTEN: No.

CLIFF: ...Right. So let’s start going over clues. That’d be the smartest way to go.

RYLIN: The cause of death has to be the stab wound! That’s why there was a lotta blood, right?!

NICOLE: You’ve got that wrong. The cause of death was the blow to the chest! He was beaten, like the report on the ElectroID’s said.

CLIFF: Right. He had a shattered chest sternum, and multiple broken ribs. A broken rib must have punctured his heart, killing him on contact.

CHELL: Right! But what confuses me is the puncture wound.

SARA: I was wondering the exact same thing. Why was he so... bloody?

EMMIE: I saw a lot of blood, was he stabbed first?

CLIFF: Possibly. With Yana’s shoe of course.

WEBB: .....

YANA: I forgot to lock my door last night... I apologize for that...  
RYLIN: Don’t apologize, yo! You just gotta relax a bit, it’ll be a’ight!

GABBI: But wouldn’t Yana be the culprit? I mean, her shoe was covered in blood.

YANA: My crime wouldn’t be that obvious!

CLIFF: Ah, that’s right. She wouldn’t be that obvious about it. I don’t think she’d be smart enough to trick us like that, either.

YANA: Rude...!

OLIVER: He’s right. The culprit must have planned his crime thoroughly, and they have to have an extremely sharp eye...

CHRIS: But Webb’s the culprit! He had a bloody pin under his bed! The culprit hiding his evidence, it’s perfect!

NICOLE: That is an interesting claim. Webb, can you add?

WEBB: .....

CHRIS: He isn’t speaking!

WEBB: .....

CLIFF: We still can’t blame him. Although his silence is suspicious. Webb, defend yourself.

WEBB: Again, why would I make my crime so obvious? 

EMMIE: H-He spoke!

CLIFF: But... Who has the strength to pummel Jason and kill him on impact? The answer is quite simple.

KRISTEN: Rylin...?

CLIFF: And BINGO was his name-o.

SARA: Oh.

RYLIN: W-WHAT?! NO FUCKIN’ WAY.  
CLIFF: Yes way.

CHRIS: ...That makes sense...

RYLIN: N-No! I was with Emmie last night! We were in the kitchen eatin’ some sweets and drinkin’ some tea!

EMMIE: ...It’s true... We ate some donuts last night and drank tea! We were hanging out until 10, and we both went to his room to watch a movie on his laptop!

SARA: ...What movie?

EMMIE: Finding Nemo!

SARA: Ah, yes. Good movie. 10/10.

JESSAMINE: Let’s get back on track.

MARCUS: But Emmie could be his accomplice, am I wrong?

EMMIE: N-No! I wouldn’t!

CLIFF: But you two would get out alive... I’m sure that’s enough of a motive.

MONOBEAR: Wrong! The one who gives the killing blow is the one who graduates! Accomplices gain nothing!

CHELL: Uh, Rylin’s a violent person, but I don’t think he’d kill someone. He’s a really good person, and wouldn’t kill. I would know that much.

RYLIN: Thanks, Chell!

CHELL: :D

SARA: How-

RYLIN: Yo, I wouldn’t kill a guy! That’s just plain fuckin’ sick.

CLIFF: True... he wouldn’t have the motive...

JESSAMINE: He’s right...

CONNOR: But who would? That’s what’s confusing me the most...

KRISTEN: I’m asking the same thing, I don’t think that anyone here would be so... awful!

NICOLE: I’m starting to suspect someone at the moment...

CONNOR: ...Who?

MARCUS: I BELIEVE THAT THE ANSWER IS OBVIOUS!

CLIFF: Stop being brash.

MARCUS: B-But-

CLIFF: You can’t go pointing fingers. Our lives are at stake here.

MARCUS: That’s right... I apologize.

CLIFF: There’s one mysterious person here who I’m completely unsure and suspicious about...

NICOLE: Yes. I believe that the culprit is Webb.

WEBB: ....

CLIFF: Webb, the silent harlequin, is also quiet enough to sneak into Yana’s unlocked bedroom door and steal her shoe. Plus, I heard my doorknob moving last night. Anyone else?

CONNOR: ...Me...

EMMIE: Me too! I heard my door jingle. I freaked out and hid in the shower.

SARA: Yeah. Happened to me too.

KRISTEN: I was sitting on my bed reading a book and I heard my door jingle. I thought maybe Connor had the wrong room since his is right next to mine, but now that I think about it, it sounds like someone was trying to get in. I looked through the peep hole on my door at first, but no one was there. So naturally, I went outside of my room about fifteen seconds after they tried it, at around 11:30 PM. Yana’s room’s right next to mine, on the other side of the corner, and I didn’t see anyone there...

YANA: Maybe he broke into my room directly after trying Kristen’s door?

KRISTEN: That’s what I’m thinking.

CLIFF: That makes a lot of sense. But the only one who would be sneaky enough to check everyone’s door is Webb.

WEBB: ....

CHRIS: Speak already!

NICOLE: You’re smart enough to have made the murder obvious towards yourself, making yourself look like a second person being framed. But you’ve got enough evidence against you now.

WEBB: ....

CLIFF: Give it up, Webb.

WEBB: S-SHUT UP YOU LOWLY TALENTLESS LOSERS!

YANA: Hm, so the silent clown speaks.

WEBB: YOU CAN’T PROVE ANYTHING. NOTHING. YOU ARE ALL TALENTLESS. COMPLETELY UNETHICAL TALENTLESS SWINES.

CLIFF: Seems pretty suspicious, you snapping.

WEBB: ....

NICOLE: Give it up, Webb! You’re cornered!

WEBB: FINE, LOSERS. I DID IT. I MOTHERFUCKING KILLED HIM.

BREAK!

WEBB: I HAVE TALENT.

WEBB: I HAVE SOMEWHERE TO BE.

WEBB: I HAVE A CAREER TO MOTHERFUCKING LIVE FOR, YOU GUYS ALL HAVE DISGUSTING, REVOLTING, HORRIFIC EXCUSES FOR TALENT.

NICOLE: We have our culprit...

GABBI: You bastard!

OLIVER: You disgust me.

CLIFF: Ah. Well I guess this is settled then.

MONOBEAR: Upupupu! Time to vote, I see?

NICOLE: I think we made a decision...

WEBB: YOU CAN’T DO THIS. I AM A GOD DAMNED FUCKING TALENT FILLED MIRACLE COMPARED TO YOU DISGUSTING TRASH. YOU’RE ALL DOGS. DISGUSTING, FLEA INFESTED DOGS.

SARA: Whoa man.

MONOBEAR: CAST YOUR VOTES!

WEBB: YOU CAN’T DO THIS. I AM TALENTED. I HAVE SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR!

MONOBEAR: CAST YOUR VOTES!

WEBB: NO!

””””””””””””

The voting machine rolled. Pixelated, animated pictures of each of the characters rolled and rolled, finally landing on a final face.

It was Webb. Streamers fell, and confetti blasted, landing in all of the students’ hair. 

CONGRATULATIONS! WEBB IS THE CULPRIT!

Webb’s face paled, before a smile cracked on his thin lips. He had already come to terms with his death.

“Execution commence! Any last words?~” Monobear shrilled, twirling and plopping down in front of the button on his podium. 

Webb placed his harlequin mask back on his face, placed his Jester’s hat back on his head, and slowly held up his middle fingers to the students. “Fuck you all!~”

Monobear wordlessly raised the mallet, banging on the large red button. The TV screen below held a picture of a pixelated Webb, and it showed him being dragged away by a pixelated Monobear. 

Webb visibly looked nervous. They didn’t need to see his face to tell.

Webb stood in the middle of the group. His face flashed to each of the students. He seemed to regret what he did, looking at the other students for assistance. Naturally, none of the students reached out to help him. The harlequin tensed up.

A large chain came out of a trap door that suddenly opened, clamping around the harlequin’s neck, throwing him in the air and dragging him through the passage at top speed.

The students turned to the large television screen at the top of the room. It showed Webb.

His death was being broadcasted to the students, and they were being forced to watch. 

Webb wandered in silence for a moment, before a light shined on him from the top of the circus tent he was in. Four large ropes came from the ground, clamping around his hands, throwing him to the ground. Under him is a large dart board, a spinning board to be precise, and he was lifted up. The circle started spinning around.

EXECUTION: THE FINAL PERFORMANCE.

A Monobear held knives. Many kitchen knives, to be exact.

Monobear slowly started throwing knives, with other Monobears slowly joining in on the fun.

One knife after another, they kept coming and coming, all of them missing. Webb’s face was covered in sweat, becoming more and more nervous as the knives kept coming.

Monobear suddenly stopped throwing the knives. He had one left.

Thinking he was spared, Webb began to struggle, thinking the ropes will set him free in time.

He was wrong.

Monobear threw the knife, full speed, at Webb’s head. The harlequin winced, but opened his eyes abruptly, feeling sudden air whip past him.

The wheel had fallen backwards.

Just when he thought he could be saved, the wheel is suddenly launched in the air. He was so high up now. When they were high enough up, the ground opened up, revealing a humungous mask just like his.

The mask’s mouth opened up, fire pouring out of it. Webb gulped.

Each rope let go of his limbs, one by one. First his left foot.

Then his right.

Then his left hand.

Webb felt panic and terror come over him. He reached his arm upwards, trying to grasp the rope holding his right hand. He held and he held, but it snapped.

Webb fell.

But just as he reached up, just about to land in the fire, the unexpected happens.

The mask’s teeth clamp shut, decapitating the clown.

His head rolls down, his face towards the camera.

The students could see the terror in his eyes- and tears running down his face, after his mask fell off.


	12. Chapter 12

PART 1: The Bass Guitarist. (1st Person)

Hey guys. My name is Jason Marcoich. I’m nineteen years old, and I’m from a small town in Missouri, which is in the United States... 

I was held back a year in school in the second grade, probably from my disability. I have dyslexia, a learning disorder... Uh, i-it basically means that I can’t read well. It’s kind of a bummer, it makes playing music much more... Satisfying. I also speak with a stutter... But that isn’t as big of a deal...

Um, anyway, I’m a senior in high school at the moment, and I had just joined a band that’s called “Blood and Violets”. It’s a punk band, and they, uh, needed a Bass Guitarist. I learned how to play when I was a kid... So, hehe, I kinda took up the offer right when they asked!

A-After traveling in tours around the country, I, um, found a black letter in the mail, along with some of the taxes for my apartment, and I opened it up. T-This is what it said.

Jason Marcoich,

Your skills at the bass guitar are phenomenal. Here at Endless Boundaries Academy, we would like for you to prove yourself worthy.

You have exceeded in your talent immensely, bypassing the skills of any young guitarist out there. You are going to be a senior, and our academy would love to see you spend your last year of high school here at our school. Graduating from this school will grant you success and happiness.  
 We here at Endless Boundaries Academy would love for you to enroll here. You have been granted a full year’s scholarship, including rooming and board. Please consider this offer.

-Your future headmaster.

I blinked my eyes in confusion at this letter. W-why would they want me? A good for nothing awkward sap? After ridiculing myself for a few moments, I reread the, uh, letter I held, and I felt a smile grow on my lips.

“M-maybe I can make some friends... some real friends...”

I immediately ripped out my suitcase and began packing my bags. School began on Monday, and it was Saturday that day. The drive was only an hour, and since I had my own car, I could bring myself there in a jiffy.

I smiled to myself. Maybe life wouldn’t be too bad at school.

 

PART TWO: The Harlequin. (3rd Person)

Webb looked upon the sight before his eyes with watery eyes and a pang in his gut. He was only nine years old, and what he just witnessed was something no nine year old should ever see.

He had just seen a young girl, one of the circus girls he worked with, free fall to her death. Her name was Misty, and she and her father were duo daredevil gymnasts. And now she was dead, the remains of her laying on the ground in a puddle of blood.

Webb turned away from the stage and began sprinting behind it, probably to see his parents. The two parents were standing off, chatting and drinking their coffee.  
 The two adults looked pleasantly surprised to see their young boy crying and sobbing and latching onto his father.

“What’s wrong, young one?” Webb’s father asked, a deep, growly voice rolling off of his tongue smoothly. Webb sobbed harder into his father’s shirt.

“You preform next, dear...” His mother started, in a smooth voice. Webb choked a bit on his spit.

“M-Misty! She’s.... She...” Webb sobbed, “She died!”

The last word was choked out rather than cried. His throat clamped shut and his eyes began to water. His mother brushed his short violet hair back, and whispered.

“The show must go on, dear. What would the world be without a few deaths here and there?” A sinister smile grew on the woman’s lips.

Webb’s eyes widened. “B-But-”

The young harlequin’s father sighed. “You wouldn’t want to let your precious fans down, you must prepare for accidents to happen. Don’t dwell on it, move on from the past. Her life didn’t matter, all that matters are the smiling, adoring fans.”

Something clicked inside of Webb, as his eyes widened. “S-So her death... doesn’t... matter...” 

His mother cleared her throat, grinning, frowning and taking another sip of her coffee. “Now go on, my son. Remember, one death here and there isn’t a big deal. And it never will be.”

Webb got out of his curled up position on his father’s lap, as he trudged away, almost emotionless.

Little did he know, that the words that his parents spoke would come back to bite him in the future.

 

Part 3: Jason’s Execution

Jason is thrown onto stage, gripping a bass guitar and his eyes having a flicker of nervousness in them. He hadn’t meant to kill! It was self defense! But in Endless Boundaries Academy, the cause didn’t matter.

Webb had attacked him. He didn’t mean to stab him... 

He felt tears prickle the corners of his eyes.  
 EXECUTION: STRUM IT, DUDE!

The guitarist stood on a treadmill type floor, slowly taking him to the back of the stage. Except the back of the stage had a type of device at the end of it.   
 Jason didn’t dare look to see what it was. 

Slowly, it kept edging back. A television rose up, and a ‘Guitar Hero’ type of game began to scroll on, and the boy desperately began to play. An audience of Monobears began to cheer him on, and he kept going, faster and faster.

A meter above him began to fill up. Jason predicted that if it filled completely, maybe he could be freed. Maybe the chain bound to his foot would keep him loose.

He was halfway across the stage. The machine at the end kept zapping.

The meter was just above halfway. The game kept going, and his fingers mindlessly began strumming. Jason began to sing... Maybe that would cause the monobears the cheer more.

The meter had just filled up, closer and closer to the top!

But then... The meter began to move. It shifted... 

And then it exploded.

Jason panicked, as he tried to free himself with all of his might. He bent over to scratch at the metal clamp on his foot, but it was no use.

He stood up straight, defeated, as he inhaled his last breath.

Zap!

The machine had electrocuted him, stopping his heart.

Jason Marcoich was dead.


	13. Chapter 13

The fourteen remaining students stepped out of the courtroom in complete and utter silence. They were all at loss for words.

They all silently walked into the cafeteria. It was currently 7:00 PM. The trial started at three, and they had just watched Webb’s execution. Sara’s throat burned with vomit that threatened to come up.

Chell’s usually goofy demeanor was gone, as well as Kristen’s. Connor sat down next to Kristen, and put a hand on her shoulder. The prankster turned to smile at the animator slightly before looking at her arm. 

Kristen mindlessly pulled a sharpie out of her pocket and started doodling little tally marks on her arms to distract herself. 

“Well that was awful.” Gabbi said, breaking the silence. She glanced downwards at the floor.

Emmie felt sudden emotion wave over her. She steadied her breathing. “I wanna go home...” 

The public speaker felt her head fall to the table, and she wrapped her arms around her head. Rylin sat next to her, brushing her hair with his hands. He felt the need to comfort the poor girl. She was the one who was effected the most by all of this, emotionally.

“We have to make sure this never happens again. Ever.” Nicole stated in a firm tone. “That was horrible. We need to find a way out of here. Pronto.”

Yana stood up. “What if we can’t find a way. And would any of you like some tea while I make myself some?”

Oliver, Nicole, Chris, Chell and Kristen all raised their hands. They all said “yes please” at the same time.

“Um, if I could get mine with no sugar, that would be nice. Thanks so much...” Kristen added lightly, with a small smile.

The others could tell that the smile was fake. But they all couldn’t blame her for feeling that way, especially after seeing a decapitated head roll across the ground. 

Yana smiled warmly in response. “That’s fine, sweetie.” The maid was particularly happy that the kids here were polite. Well, at least some of them. She needed to figure out a way to cheer them up.

Marcus frowned. “Let’s hope we don’t have to encounter such a... Problem ever again. Do we all agree?”

Cliff nodded slightly. “Yes. At least we got one insane person out of the way. But who knows when someone else will die.”

The archer earned a few glares for that statement.

Sara stood up from her seat, slipping her hands into the pockets of her cargo pants. “I need food.”

“Wow, Sara, I don’t think I’ll be hungry ever again...” Chell said lowly. “That was terrifying. I’m not going to be able to sleep for weeks. How do you even do it?!”

Sara shrugged, nonchalantly. “WELL, a girl’s gotta maintain her womanly figure.”

The girl motioned her body to be an hourglass figure (when in reality she was quite frail and frankly, scrawny), and stalked off to make herself a sandwich. “I’m goin’ to bed after this.”

Chell sighed, staring into her teacup, grimacing. “Will I even be able to eat this after that scarring incident?” 

“Someone’s a bit overdramatic. Like an actress.” Cliff smirked, crossing his arms and a mischievous smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He had annunciated that last word.

“Someone’s opening up.” Chell teased back, but still looking a bit solemn due to the execution. 

Cliff’s cheeks turned red, though he was in just as bad of a mood. “A-AM NOT.”

WELL. Someone was defensive...

Meanwhile a few chairs away, Nicole sat in the cafeteria, staring into the cup of tea that Yana had just brought back to her, which she replied with a small “thank you”. A thought clicked in her mind, and she decided to speak, after sipping at it. “My birthday is in six days.”

“Really?” Kristen asked, leaning towards her. “My birthday’s in four days!”

Nicole grinned a bit, looking up at the prankster as she adjusted her ponytail. “Really?! How old are you gonna be?”  “Sixteen!”

“Me too! I guess we’re just about the same age, then!” Nicole smiled; it was best to avoid the negativity of the school trial. After all, they were all still alive, and it was best to keep hoping.

Kristen felt a mischievous smirk grow on her face. She sat up a little straighter and puffed her chest out. “I’m still older~”

Connor laughed from beside Kristen all of a sudden, also leaning over the table to join in on the conversation. Nicole backed up a bit, as Connor spoke. “I guess we’ll have to throw you two birthday parties! Maybe the day between your birthdays!”

Kristen smiled at the animator. “That’s a great idea, Connor!”

“I dunno about that,” Nicole started, “I don’t think we should be throwing parties here...”

Monobear crawled out from under the table, stood up and brushed himself off. “Upupupu! Nonsense! It would be beary inconsiderate of me to ignore my precious students’ birthdays!”

“Go away. We don’t need you here right now.” Chris spat from the end of the table. Monobear looked down at his feet and blushed.

“I’d be careful what you say there, DJ boy. You’re hurting your poor headmaster’s feelings!” The bear shrilled, turning away and fake-crying. Chell grimaced at the bear’s terrible acting skills. 

Chris scoffed at the stuffed animatronic doll in return, and silently slid his headphones on his ears. He stood up abruptly. “I’m taking an early night. Being a DJ really messes up your sleep schedule.”

Nicole and Kristen exchanged glances and looked back at the bear. Monobear took a step forward.

“The party supplies are in /that/ closet!~” Monobear shrilled once again, pointing towards a double doored closet on the other side of the cafeteria. 

Nicole shook her head, declining the bear’s offer. “Um, no thanks... I’m going to hold off... I don’t really feel up to it...”

“Aw, what?” Connor whined a bit, crossing his arms. “I wanted to party. Plus, it’d cheer us all up!”

“No it wouldn’t.” Cliff muttered in the back, in a low voice.

Before Monobear left, he turned around and leaned forward a bit. “Oh, by the way! There’s more room for you to explore on the second floor! It will be open tomorrow morning!”

He disappeared abruptly.

“I don’t mind holding off on a party, I can understand why you’d say no...” Kristen said with a small (faked) laugh. “I’m kinda shaken up because of what happened.”

“Want a jolly rancher?” Sara asked, holding a handful that she had just gotten from her pocket. “That makes me feel better.”

Rylin snatched one out of Sara’s hand and popped it into his mouth. “Yum.”

“Um, a green one.” Kristen took it, and shoved it onto her mouth. “Ah, candy, god’s nectar.”  
“What.” Nicole said, rather than asked, stealing two red jolly ranchers. Sara flailed. 

“NO.”

She grabbed one of the jolly ranchers Nicole took and shoved it down her shirt. Okay then.

Marcus frowned. “Now’s not the time for this... tomfoolery.”

Kristen frowned in response to the firefighter’s words. “Well then.”

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m gonna go hit the sack.” Oliver yawned, standing off and brushing off his tan pants. “I guess I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I think I’m gonna go to bed too.” Chell added, following Oliver out of the cafeteria. “See you tomorrow. Who knows, maybe there’s an escape upstairs!”

Nicole agreed. “Yeah. Seeya tomorrow.”

And within the next thirty minutes, each student had gathered in their bedrooms, ready for another day.

Sort of.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyayahah i update rather quickly on ff.net but here i'm just like "whatever"

Nicole woke up with a yawn, sitting up in her bed and scratching her back with her arm. Though she couldn’t exactly reach the spot that itched the most. Groaning, she leaned back against the frame of her bed and rubbed her back against it desperately. Damn her itchy pajamas. Just as she was about to lay back down, a screeching voice hit her ears.

"Upupupu! Good morning, you bastards! It's 7:00 AM, time to wake up! Aim to do your best today!"

Nicole growled. “Why do I always wake up before the alarm goes off...? Fuck everything.”

The instrumentalist flopped back into her bed with her face in her pillow, shouting, tired as hell. It had taken her at least six hours of tossing and turning in order to get to sleep that night.   
“I hate everything.”  
She wasn’t prepared for today. At all.  
After finally finding the motivation to drag herself out of bed, Nicole stood up, brushed her hair, and threw her tank top, cardigan and skirt on. She threw her shoes on her feet. She quickly went to the bathroom to brush her teeth, before putting her hair in a messy ponytail.  
She didn’t feel like trying to feel girly at the moment. Nicole felt too shitty to consider it.  
Trudging out the door, through the hall and into the cafeteria, she joined a tired Kristen, a slightly positive Connor, a laughing Chell, a neutral Yana and a hungry Gabbi.  
“Hey.” The illusionist muttered, taking a ravenous bite out of her bagel. Just a raw, uncooked whole bagel.  
Nicole gave her a humorous giggle. “Why?”

“They taste better like this.” Gabbi replied, spreading a glob of cream cheese all over the top of the bagel, as she took another ravenous bite out of it. Jessamine had just sat next to the girl, giving her an odd stare, raising an eyebrow and pursing her lips. She looked disgusted.

“That’s just gross.”

“Don’t judge me. I’m a daredevil. I must take a leap to fate!” Gabbi laughed, raising a fist to the air, putting a finger to Jessamine’s lips.

Chris trudged out of the dorm area looking quite displeased, falling onto a chair silently. His yellow shirt was inside out, and his jeans were missing the usual belt that he had in them, so he probably didn’t open his eyes while getting dressed. The DJ turned around, yawned, and let his head fall onto the table. He didn’t move at all after that.

Nicole raised an eyebrow, turning to Chell for some input. “Is he always like this? Or have I just not noticed?”

Chell shrugged. “Feh, I heard that he wasn’t exactly an early bird since he’s a DJ. I’m surprised he’d been getting up early for the past two days, I guess he reverted back to his old sleeping habits?”

Chris groaned. “Shhhut.”

“You’re just cranky because you had to get up early.” Connor teased, before taking a bite out of his toaster strudel. Chris opened his eyes for the first time since flopping into the chair, and glared at the Animator, and the fourteen year old put his hands up in front of him defensively in response.

“I’d be happier if I wasn’t woken up by that screeching voice. I swear I’m going to explode if I keep hearing that. Into a pile of confetti.”

Kristen burst into a series of giggles after he said that.

Nicole got up from her seat and walked into the kitchen to get herself some breakfast. She hadn’t eaten since seven, and she felt sick if she didn’t eat anything in the morning. She saw Sara making herself some toast and Rylin eating a really sugary donut in the corner.

Nicole approached the hockey player, and the taller boy turned to smile at her. At least he was feeling better as well. “Hey Nicky! How’s it hangin’?”

The instrumentalist giggled at her nickname. She didn’t protest. “Hey Rylin! Nice to see you! How are you?”

Rylin’s eyes flashed to the left before looking back at Nicole. So it seemed that he really wasn’t as okay as he came off as. “Ahh, to be honest, I’m really freaked out still. I had a pretty bad freak out attack las’ night and I just- I’m not feelin’ to hot, ya know?”

Nicole sighed, understandingly. “Yeah, I feel you, bro. I can totally understand where you’re coming from. Yesterday was just... ugh.”

“You know it, Nicky.” Rylin paused to take a bite of his tasty breakfast treat. “At least things are looking up now, everyone’s looking on the bright side. I guess that’s what we gotta do to survive in this joint, yo.”

Cliff approached the two, eating an apple. “Hello you two.”

He was much looser than he was before. He seemed to be opening up a bit around Nicole mostly. It was kind of nice, as the girl enjoyed making friends.

“Sup, Cliff?” Nicole asked, as she quickly reached for a piece of bacon that Emmie silently offered her, before chewing on an english muffin. “I haven’t really had a normal conversation with you yet.”

The shorter boy had the smallest hint of a smile on his face. “Yeah, seems like it. We talked about murder. Hopefully that doesn’t happen again.”

Nicole giggled. “We should get together more often, you seem like a trustworthy and reliable friend!”

“Really? Thanks, Nicole.” Cliff replied, punching her arm ever so slightly. “Uh, sorry, I’ve never done that before.”

Rylin wiggled his eyebrows at Nicole before ditching her. 

“So, are you missing archery?” Nicole asked, trying to make conversation. Cliff nodded fairly eagerly, but he still had his cool, smooth air around him.

“Yeah. I can’t say I don’t. I’m sure you miss your instruments as well.” Cliff sighed, taking another bite of his apple. “What instrument did you start out with? I used to do some music things as a kid, just a bit of Violin before taking up archery.”

Nicole grinned, knowing that she’d be good friends with Cliff in no time. She just needed to /really/ get to him. She decided to continue with their conversation. “I started out with the Alto Saxophone. Although, I do know how to play the French Horn, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Trombone, Oboe and the Cello. I was just beginning to learn how to play the Flute, I was just getting into it before I got here. I won’t be the best Flautist now, the lack of practice’ll deteriorate my skill.”

“When I don’t shoot arrows for long amounts of time, I get rusty too. I had some... Family issues for a while, which caused me to take a long break from it.” Cliff replied. “I understand.”

Nicole had a flash of concern in her eyes. “Aw, dude, what happened?”

Cliff shuddered. “I... don’t want to talk about it.”

The instrumentalist’s eyes widened, realizing she might of triggered him. “Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to be pushy, definitely don’t talk about it if you don’t need to.”

Cliff let out a nervous, fake laugh. “Y-Yeah. Sorry. I’m just... I’ll talk to you later, Nicole. It was nice having a real conversation with you.”

“Any time, bro!” Nicole laughed, patting Cliff’s back. The archer let out the smallest of laughs before scurrying away.

The girl wandered towards Sara, who was now sitting at the table inside of the cafeteria. Nicole plopped down next to her.

“Yo.” Sara said, browsing through the pictures on her phone. Nicole noticed that she used that thing a lot. She decided to speak up about it.

“You use your phone a lot... even though there’s no need to use it here...” 

Sara smirked a little. “I don’t need it to call people, I just like looking through the pictures on here. See, look at this one! I’ll show you some of them, they’re pretty fucking hilarious. It’s kind of like a Mini-Tumblr here, I have about 10,000 pictures on my phone, thanks to my handy dandy memory card.”

Nicole’s eyes widened in horror to what Sara showed her. It was a moving picture of Shrek from that one movie with the green ogre, and Shadow from Sonic The Hedgehog twirling around and making out.

“I can’t believe you saved this joke on your phone. I’m gonna-”

“You know of it?! I just like to scare people!” Sara shouted rather boisterously, interrupting Nicole. The instrumentalist nodded slowly, a bit weirded out by her friend’s sense of humor.

“I have a tumblr you know, I tend to see... things...”

Sara’s eyes sparked a bit, before having a smirk smack itself on her face. “What kind of blog do you run?”

Nicole looked to the floor. “I’m a bit of a loser. I blog about Harry Potter and Nintendo games like Animal Crossing and Pokémon. I also really like Disney. Those are my fandoms, if you pay attention to those.”

Sara shrugged. “I like Pokémon too, along with Anime and Homestuck. I really like SNK.”

“I read Homestuck once, it was... Too confusing for me. I read up to Act 3 before giving up.” Nicole laughed sheepishly, shrinking into herself. Her friends back at home used to ridicule her for not finishing the comic, no matter how many times she’d say that she tried.

Sara, like her friends, groaned loudly. “AHHG. You have to wait to get to Act 5! SHEESH, NICOLE.” 

Nicole held her hands up defensively. “Whoa there, tiger, I know, all of my friends told me that and called me a wimp for it.”

“GOD, STOP BEING A WIMP.” Sara ‘yelled’, obviously sarcastic, which ended up causing Kristen to slide over towards Sara.

“Did I hear something about Homestuck?”

Nicole’s face twisted up. “Nooo...”

Sara and Kristen began chattering on about Homestuck, or whatever it was. Nicole bid them her goodbyes, before she nearly rammed into Marcus. She brushed herself off, looking up at the much taller man.

“Oh, hey Marcus.”

“Hello Nicole, it seems that you are doing well. How are you doing?” He asked a bit too stiffly, which Nicole silently shuddered at.

“I’m pretty good,” Nicole started, shifting in place, “you should really loosen up a bit.”

The flamboyant firefighter puffed out his chest. “I’m afraid I can’t do that!”

Marcus let out a billowing laugh. Nicole felt tempted to plug her ears, but she was afraid that she would look rude.

“The safety of my peers is much to strong for me to merely let my guard down!” Marcus made it sound like normal people were ridiculous. 

“Ahh, yeah, you’re right!” Nicole lied, looking to her left. She wasn’t too good with people who were much more different than her. “Well, I’ll see you later then, good to see that you’re doing okay!”

Marcus nodded at her, before running off to speak with Yana. Nicole smiled slightly at Yana walking away from Marcus, though she was probably just going to get him some tea. Yana was such a nice girl, she was always so motherly. It was great to have such a caring person in the group.

“Uh, guys? If I could make a suggestion?” Connor asked loudly, gathering the attention of the group of kids. “We should go explore upstairs now!”

“That sounds like a great idea!” Nicole replied.

Chell gave the youngest kid a thumbs up. “Yeah, Connor! We should do that right now!

The rest of the students had agreed, with an overtired Chris grunting in approval. Well, either approval or disapproval. But everyone decided to take that as a yes.

“So it’s decided then!” Marcus shouted. “Now we must go and explore the new area!”

“Yeah!” Emmie agreed quietly. “Let’s try to move on! We should keep strong and look on the bright side!”

Now it was time to check out the second floor. Smiling and flattening her skirt out, the instrumentalist followed the rest of the students out of the cafeteria and to the stairwell.

They had decided to split into groups, and in a few moments, the students would finally get to see what they were oh-so anticipating.


	15. Chapter 15

Nicole followed the rest of the students out of the cafeteria and to the stairwell, ascending upstairs. It was a large, vast space, with a very wide hallway and various rooms. The carpet was red, and the walls were black, so it was a bit eerier up there than

They had decided to split into groups, and in a few moments, the students would finally get to see what they were oh-so anticipating.

Nicole grabbed Chell and Kristen, the former by her shirt and the latter by her arm. “Do you guys want to explore the area with me?”

“Sure!” Chell smiled, and Kristen nodded. 

“Sounds good to me.” 

While the other students had split up into groups of three, Chell, Kristen and Nicole decided to explore the left wing. It had three rooms going across the wall, so the students decided to step into the third one.

“Whoa...” Chell murmured.

The area they had stepped into was a store, but it seemed more like a storage hut. It had a large variety of different kinds of items, and there were eight isles. Down each isle, there were jump-ropes, some hoodies and t-shirts, junk foods (the kitchen on the first floor had mostly small snacks and meal foods for dinnertime and breakfast), board games and some handheld video games.

“It’ll be hard to get bored with this stuff here...” Nicole said. “I know I’m probably going to dive into the gaming systems. I left my 3DS at home...”

Chell laughed a little. “You know it. I’m not quite the... gamer... but it’d be pretty fun to dress up in costumes in here. Like, I could dress up into a ski mask and pretend to be a mass murderer!”

Kristen gave her the most disturbed look and stepped to her side. “No no... don’t do that...”

“Haha, sorry, I was just kidding.”

Nicole’s face twisted into a small frown. “That creeped both of us out, you need to not joke about those types of things.”

Chell chuckled innocently. “Acting’s what I do! Sorry if I creeped you out, that wasn’t my intention.”

“...You’re forgiven.” Kristen muttered, though it sounded like she was lying. She hadn’t even gotten over the deaths of her two classmates, and she didn’t exactly appreciate Chell’s words.

“Hhhahhh... Let’s change topics, shall we?” Nicole smiled, nearly prancing out of the store. “Let’s find the others.”

The three kids stepped into the hallway, only to hear a loud cheering noise coming from the hallway, and loud, thumping footsteps.

“Nicky! This is the best day ever, yo!” Rylin shouted, waving his hand and innocently running towards her, the prankster and the actress. “There’s a hockey rink! I can play again!”

Emmie followed Rylin out of the hockey rink, short of breath and nearly falling to the floor. “Sheesh, you run like a horse.”

Kristen stifled a laugh at that. 

“Well, you should play hockey with me sometime! You’ll get all fit like me! I’m fuckin’ buff, ya know?” Rylin half-joked, showing one of his arm muscles to the petite public speaker. Emmie grimaced a little.

“Um, you have a reputation of beating others up during games. I doubt she’d want to play hockey with you.” Nicole said flatly. “Try asking someone tough, like Marcus. Possibly.”

Rylin frowned innocently. “Aw, but he’s such a hardass! He’d probably waddle to the goal!”

Kristen burst into uncontrollable laughter and removed herself from the area, probably to control herself. As she slinked into the store, all Nicole could hear was her faint laughter from inside the walls. She had a really sensitive sense of humor, and tended to laugh at anything that was remotely funny.

A few moments of silence later, the prankster returned to the others, clearing her throat. “I’m done.”

Nicole laughed. “I doubt Marcus’d be a hard opponent for you. You’d probably beat him though, being a Super High School Level Hockey Player and all.”

“Hm, probs. But my hand’s still hurt, ‘kinda forgot about that one.” Rylin replied, holding his bandaged up right hand. “I tend to hurt myself a lot.”

“I believe that we’ve noticed.” Chell said. “Welp, I’m gonna head out. Seeya later.”

Chell walked away without another word, probably going to find someone else.

Emmie decided to speak up. “Um, do you think we should go and look at the other rooms now?”

“Sure!” Nicole said. “Let’s check the room in the middle. So, there’s a hockey rink and a grocery store. Kinda interesting. Well, let’s check for more.”

Nicole, Kristen, Rylin and Emmie opened the second door only to meet with the remainder of the students. Cliff had seated himself at a table, reading a book, and Yana sat across from him doing the exact same thing.

Marcus was examining a bookshelf, Chris was laying on another table half-asleep, and Gabbi was browsing the bookshelf opposite of Marcus, along with Jessamine and Oliver.

Sara approached the new group that had walked into the room, clutching her cellphone, typing away at it. She also had a novel in her other hand, and it looked like one of those typical teen-girl books. It was a bit surprising to see the film critic holding one of those. “Hey. The library in here’s pretty nice, am I right?”

Nicole nodded excitedly. “Totally!”

Continuing to stare at her phone screen, she pressed various buttons and decided to leave. “I’m gonna go... sleep... or something.”

Sara had left in the blink of an eye. Just as she had left the room, an announcement had gone off. “Ahem, attention, attention! You guys are INCREDIBLY boring, so naturally, I’ve decided to whip up a surprise for you! Come to the gymnasium right now! Upupu!”

Nicole felt her heart sink to the bottom of her stomach.

“NooooooOOO.” Oliver groaned. “This is going to suck.”

“Tell me about it.” Gabbi muttered.

\-------

“You guys are boring!” Monobear shouted, putting his hands on his hips.

Gabbi scoffed. “You told us this already. What do you want?”

“Well, you see, guys, I’ve decided to provide yourselves with a motive!! Yes, a motive! Isn’t that just handy dandy?!” Monobear cooed, twirling. “I didn’t get a chance to give you a motive before the first murder because you guys jumped to murder on the first night!”

“So what is it? Get to the point.” Cliff spat, crossing his arms. He didn’t look excited. But the others didn’t, either.

“Impatient much? Anyway, here, take these!”

Monobear threw fourteen envelopes into the air, with everyones’ name on them. They had scattered onto the floor, and the students ran towards the papers like a pack of wild animals, and hastily opened them.

Nicole’s eyes widened as she looked onto the paper. She was disgusted, and a look of regret flashed onto her face. Well, this was embarrassing.

‘Nicole brought her cousin to a school dance in 8th grade!’

“Nooo...” Gabbi groaned, crumpling her paper up and shoving it into her pocket. “This is really embarrassing.”

Rylin had a grossed out look on his face, but didn’t exactly look brutally angry about it. “Agh.”

“Upupu! I bet it is, bastards! Too bad these secrets will be revealed in twenty four hours! Well, unless you kill someone, that is! These’ll be broadcasted to the world unless someone goes ‘slice slice’ or ‘chop chop’ to anyone! Have fun!”

Rylin’s face twisted into a frown. “Well, there goes my popularity.”

Emmie put a hand on the hockey player’s shoulder. “You can tell me anything, Rylin! I won’t judge! I’ll tell you mine, too!”

Rylin whispered something into Emmie’s ear, and she started giggling. Rylin’s face turned as red as a beet. “You said you wouldn’t laugh, yo!”

The hockey player stomped into the kitchen. The other students knew exactly was he was doing.

“God fucking dammit.” Cliff cussed. “This is bullshit. How does he know this?!”

Marcus stomped out of the auditorium wordlessly, as Chell crumpled the paper in her hand. Oliver just looked ashamed, and he hung his head and walked out of the room.

“Mine just says I’m afraid of bees. I can handle that.” Sara shrugged.

“Brought my cousin to a school dance. I’m kinda over it, though my friends’ll judge me for the rest of my life.” Nicole hung his head. Emmie smirked, and whispered something into Sara’s ear, which caused her to laugh uncontrollably.

“Oh my god.”

“What?” Nicole asked. Sara leaned to Nicole’s ear, and whispered.

“Rylin used to be overweight.”

Nicole burst into laughter. “No way. I wouldn’t expect that at all!”

Emmie laughed as well. “Don’t tell anyone about it, I promised him. Oh, and mine’s just that I’m afraid of needles.”

The three laughed innocently, hanging out, and just having fun. No one, except for Cliff and Marcus, seemed fazed by their secrets. They went by their normal day routines, and before any of the students could notice, it was night time.

Nicole sat in her bedroom, flipping through her book, when she heard a knocking on her door. The girl stood up, and swung the door open, only to see Emmie and Kristen holding their pillows.

“We’re sleeping over.”

“Okay...?” Nicole said reluctantly. “Go ahead.”

Emmie had her laptop case in her hand, along with some movies. “I brought movies. Kristen and I planned this earlier, and decided to raid your room. I hope you don’t mind!”

Kristen leaned over to set her pillow and blanket on the floor. “I brought ‘Men In Tights’.” 

“You have the weirdest taste in movies.” Nicole laughed. Kristen looked slightly offended, letting her head fall into her pillow. 

“I’m a little nervous someone’s gonna kill tonight. My secret wasn’t a big deal, but I’m still a little shaky because of it. What if someone goes batshit crazy?”

“I don’t think someone’ll do that...” Emmie started softly, “after all, we just got out of a trial. I’m sure we’ll all be okay.”

Nicole paused, an idea clicking in her head. “Did you guys really come to sleep over?”

Kristen had a confused look on her face. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you scared? Is that why your spending the night with me?”

The prankster sighed, and the public speaker turned away from the instrumentalist. “...Yeah, that’s why we’re here. We’re just scared... I mean, safety in numbers, am I right?”

Nicole didn’t peg Kristen as the nervous type. Sure, Emmie was obvious about it, but Kristen? She always had an air of confidence around her, and had the funniest of stories to tell. But here she was, sitting on her floor, clutching a black and white cat plushie. “I just want to go home...”

“Me too, Kristen... me too. Let’s get some rest, though. Hopefully things will be okay for tonight.”

“Good night, guys...” Emmie said, closing her eyes. “Let’s pull through this together. We have to do that much.”

Nicole reached over her bed, flipped on a night light, and turned off her lamp. The instrumentalist curled under her covers, clutching a teddy that she’d brought from home. At least she had her teddy bear. It always comforted her in her sleep. “Good night, Emmie.”

“Just don’t fart.” Kristen said. “I’ve had enough sleepovers.”

Nicole laughed. “Oh my god.”

Even though the lights were off, the three girls chattered about funny stories to distract themselves. It was a fairly fun night, but who knows what would come to them in the morning.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ahhhh 2nd victim this'll be fun.   
> not.  
> i plan on illustrating this in the future though so that'll be something to be excited for i guess

“I don’t want to do this with you anymore. This is wrong. We’re wrong- wait, actually, you’re wrong.” A voice said inside of a dark room. Another figure chuckled, approaching the other.

“Would you actually betray me? Would you really?” The second voice said in a sinister tone.

The first scoffed. “Although I helped organize this with you… I’m having second thoughts. I’ve grown fond of them. I don’t want to help you with this sick game anymore.”

The second laughed maniacally. “AHAHA! So, you’ve decided to part with this? Even though I have a new mission for you?”

The first was much more curious than they wanted to admit. “...Plan?”

“Yes! A plan! All you have to do is monitor the camera! You can even take control of the Bear Puppet when your dear older brother is asleep!”

The first sighed. They were both tempted, excited, and disgusted with themselves. “I’ll do it. But don’t expect me to be happy about it.”

“Good,” the second started, “because otherwise,”

A light shined onto a black and red mask, as it was removed slightly, to show a face with two gray eyes shining evilly. 

“Otherwise, I’d have to kill you.”

\--

Nicole woke up to Kristen shaking her and Emmie’s sleeping forms simultaneously, frantically telling the two to wake up. “Guys. Guys, get up.”

Her voice was shaky- it sounded like she had just been crying.

Nicole felt herself leaping out of the bed and throwing her shoes on. “K-Kristen! What’s wrong?”

“Hnn...” Emmie grunted. She obviously wasn’t the morning type.

“C-Come quickly!” The prankster said frantically, practically dragging Emmie up from the floor. The public speaker rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, before a thought clicked in her head- there was a motive yesterday.

And Kristen could only be upset for one reason.

Grabbing the two girls’ hands, Kristen dragged them out from the bedroom, into the cafeteria. It took a few moments, but all Nicole could think about is what happened and who died. There wasn’t a morning announcement, so either Nicole didn’t hear it, or it was before the designated waking-up time. Nicole guessed it was the former of the two- who would be up before 7?

The remaining students were standing in a circle. Kristen choked out a sob and stepped away from the group, and all Nicole could think of was the worst. Pushing through the large group of students, the instrumentalist’s eyes widened as she felt a scream burst out of her mouth. She was right.

Jessamine Beaumont was dead.

Emmie fell to her knees and started bawling. Uncontrollable sobs were coming out of her- the first friend that she had made here was dead. Killed in a disgusting way. 

The one who loved to make others feel beautiful- the girl who wanted nothing more than the happiness of her peers. Though a bit self absorbed, she was a wonderful person and was full of joy.

But there she was, laying in a puddle of her own blood, with her neck slit open from ear to ear. A kitchen knife was lying just a mere foot away from her sprawled out form. It was a terrifying sight. No one could believe it; just a mere two days after the trial, someone had cracked under the pressure.

One of their fellow students was a murderer. Tension rose.

Chell was silently crying on the sidelines. She hadn’t exactly gotten along with the girl, but it was still one of the worst things she ever saw. Sara refused to look at the corpse, but hinted suggestions to the others. Not that the others were listening to her somewhat-useless declarations.

The public speaker crumpled into herself, body shaking as screams erupted from inside of her. She didn’t want to be here anymore. Emmie didn’t want to be alive anymore.

She wanted to go home.

Nicole felt a hand fly to her mouth. “O-oh my god. Not again...”

Cliff cast a glance downwards. “Looks like it’s time to investigate again. What a shame.”

“This is disturbing, but I’ll help.” Yana said, adjusting her hair. “This is definitely not something I would do, but… for the sake of the others, I’ll contribute.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Marcus declared, leaning down next to Jessamine’s corpse. “It looks like she has a slit throat!”

“No fuck.” Kristen said through her tears. “Stop pointing out the obvious.”

Marcus didn’t reply, but obliged, keeping quiet. He sure was… interesting. He always obliged to others’ wishes, rather than his own. Being a firefighter, he sure was into the well-being of others.

Rylin led a hysterical Emmie back to her room. None of the students made a move to stop him, after what had just happened. Someone broke the silence.

“I-I’m going to go wake Chris up... He sleeps in late, right?” Gabbi asked, adjusting her blonde ponytail. “I think he should contribute to whatever we’re going to do now...”

Yana nodded. “Yes, you should probably do that. I noticed that yesterday. He was quite tired.”

Gabbi nodded, silently thanking the maid. “Uh, I’m gonna bring someone along with me, I don’t feel like getting yelled at alone. Um, Nicole, you wanna come along?”

The brown haired girl nodded. “Sure, that sounds fine. I’m thinking that we should hurry back afterwards, though.”

Gabbi somewhat dragged Nicole towards the DJ’s room. He was a heavy sleeper, and maybe it was time for him to wake up. Once the two approached the boy’s door, Gabbi raised a hand and knocked three times. “Hello, Chris?”

There wasn’t a reply.

The illusionist knocked once again, and once more, there was no answer. Nicole lightly pushed Gabbi out of the way, jingling the doorknob, finding that it was unlocked. Nicole knocked lightly once again. 

“I’m coming in.” 

The door creaked open, and the two girls both popped their heads in. The two instantly regretted it.

There the boy was, lying on his floor, with his head resting in a puddle of blood. There wasn’t any sign of a weapon, either. But this realization dawned upon the two students.

Chris White was dead.

Sara approached the door, looking at the body, before groaning. “Jesus fucking shit.”

Before Nicole could scold her for the misuse of the word ‘jesus’, she paused, before her eyes widened. “G-guys…”

“What…?” Gabbi asked hesitantly. Her face turned stark white when she realized what exactly was going on.

“A body announcement didn’t go off.”

Chris’ form shook, as he lifted his head. “W-watch out… watch out for…”

He passed out. 

Gabbi bolted out of the boy’s room, only to return with Marcus. “Carry him to the infirmary! His wounds don’t look severe, I think he’ll heal with some bedrest.”

A flicker of horror flashed on Marcus’ face, before the fireman scooped the smaller boy into his arms, as marcus dashed away. Gabbi turned to Nicole and Sara.

“This place is definitely a nightmare.”

“It’s worse than Nightmare House 2 up in this shit.” Sara muttered.

Nicole nearly smacked the girl upside the head, but decided against it. “Um, yeah. Sure it is.”

Little did they know, their nightmares had just begun.


	17. Chapter 17

Now, Gabbi wouldn't really want to admit it out loud, but she cried like a baby when she discovered Jessamine's corpse at 6 AM. She clutched the now deceased cosmetologist's hand as tears leaked out of her eyes. Then, Oliver stumbled upon the girls, and then Yana, and then the announcement went off.

Three other kids woke up, the lighter sleepers, like Kristen, Connor and Marcus. None of the other kids were up.

Slowly, the other kids woke up. Cliff, and then Chell. Rylin had showed up at one point, but Gabbi didn't recall when. She was too busy with Jessamine. She was devastated.

Kristen arrived with Nicole and Emmie shortly after, before Emmie broke down into tears. Gabbi had just calmed herself, considering the fact that she would absolutely NEVER want to cry in front of others. She cared too much about her friends to have them focus on her.

Gabbi stood up, avoiding a shaking Emmie on the floor. She felt horrible for the girl, she had reacted the same way as the former.

Nicole had decided to go with her to wake up Chris. That was something that would keep her mind off of her friend's death.

Chris was half dead- if they hadn't found him, he would've been dead.

Nicole rubbed her temples. She had a severe headache, and she felt like she was going to cry. She needed to sit down. They had just possibly saved Chris's life. Sort of.

Sitting in her room once again, Nicole clutched her pillow close to her chest. She didn't want this. She didn't want to be in this school anymore. She wanted out.

\---

Chris's form shook, as he lifted his head. "W-watch out… watch out for…"'

\---

What exactly had he meant? It was obvious that he was talking about the culprit. He needed to be questioned once he woke up.

If he woke up, that is.

Nicole shook her head at herself, smacking herself in the forehead. "Don't think like that, Robinson. Thinking negatively will get us all killed."

"Talking to yourself, eh?" A smooth voice said, interrupting her train of thought. Nicole flailed and nearly fell to the floor in response.

"Cliff! What are you doing here?"

Cliff scoffed, crossing his arms. "I was just investigating, but we decided to take a break from it. I came looking for you since you helped out last time. I'm surprised you aren't investigating with me again."

He sounded slightly disappointed; Nicole decided to ignore it.

"Y-yeah, sorry Cliff, I'm just a little shaken up from all that happened. You know what I mean, right?"

Cliff nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, I understand. Death is a tough thing to get through, I would know..." Nicole decided to ignore what he just said, "...we just gotta focus on one thing right now, hopefully this trial will be neater than last time. And Monobear appeared earlier and told us that we had twice the amount of investigation time since there was both a murder and an assault."

Nicole stood up from her bed with a sigh. "I guess you're right. You're lucky my door was open. If you crept in here I'd be seriously angry."

The archer let out a small laugh. "Yeah. But anyway, Oliver had found something with Emmie earlier; I thought you'd might want to see this."

"O-okay..." Nicole muttered. She was a bit confused about what Cliff was saying about Oliver and Emmie.

The archer led the instrumentalist throughout the hallway, before taking her into the cafeteria where Jessamine's body was.

The two both heard Oliver speaking, pointing to something on his ElectroID card.

"Ah, Nicole, there you are!" The blonde boy smiled, closing his grayish blue eyes, tilting it to the side. "I wanted to show you guys this. There's an update on the ID."

\---

Victim: Jessamine Beaumont

Talent: Cosmetologist

Status: Dead.

Time of Death: 6:12 AM

Cause of Death: Slit throat, drowned in own blood. Also has a broken ankle, caused by a blunt object.

\---

"But haven't we been through this...?" Cliff asked slowly. "Sure, we didn't know about the broken ankle, but the slit throat was obvious."

Emmie slipped away from the rest of the kids, her eyes flickering towards the ground. She was too upset to take part in this.

"Yes, but they added something else to it." Oliver added. "Look at Chris's profile. They added something to his too.

Nicole swiped her finger on the screen, tapping Chris's icon. "Oh, look. They have info on his part, too.

Connor approached Nicole, scratching his face with his hands lightly, a small frown on his face. He narrowly avoided Jessamine's corpse. "So... did you hear anything about Chris?"

"Not yet." Nicole replied. "They have his status on our ElectroID things. I was just about to read it."

"Ah, okay. Let's see what it was, then."

\---

Victim: Chris White

Talent: DJ

Status: Alive

Time of assault: 6:19 AM

Type of assault: Hit over the head with a blunt object.

\---

"So, it's around 7:30 right now...?" Nicole asked. Cliff nodded.

"Yeah. We all got up fairly early. But what sucks is that Chris will probably be knocked out over the trial. Earlier, Gabbi, Rylin and Emmie convinced Monobear to NOT kill him if he's still out of it before the trial. It took a while, but he obliged." Cliff said with a frown. He played with a button on his shirt, fidgeting. "I hope we catch that bastard."

"Yeah. Me too." Nicole replied. "I just hope we all don't end up like Jessamine."


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AHHAHahaHAHahah here have another investigation chapter

“Yeah. We all got up fairly early. But what sucks is that Chris will probably be knocked out over the trial. Earlier, Gabbi, Rylin and Emmie convinced Monobear to NOT kill him if he’s still out of it before the trial. It took a while, but he obliged.” Cliff said with a frown. He played with a button on his shirt, fidgeting. “I hope we catch that bastard.”

“Yeah. Me too.” Nicole replied. “I just hope we all don’t end up like Jessamine.”

Sara approached the two swiftly. “Oliver and Rylin just found something in the kitchen. I think it’s worth checking out.”  
The film critic snatched the two kids’ hands before dragging them into said room. Oliver was waiting for them by a large refrigerator, frowning slightly. Rylin was also standing with the younger boy. It was kind of odd seeing the taller boys looking disgruntled, when they were such a positive kids.

“Look at this...” The luckster said quietly. Nicole bent down a bit, pushing her hair out of the way from her eyes, before they widened in surprise.

There was a large, slightly bloody hammer in the trashcan.

There were two murder weapons; a metal hammer and a kitchen knife.

“I kinda put together the thought of the hammer bein’ used to smash Chris’s head in. The poor guy’s still outta it.” Rylin sighed. “And it’s possible that Jessa’s ankle could’a been smashed with it as well.

“Also,” Oliver started, with Sara following suit, “The second largest knife was taken down.”

On the wall sat a rack of knives, where there were supposed to be six. Evidentially, the one closest to the biggest was missing; it was   
lying next to Jessamine’s corpse.

Marcus walked into the room. “Hello, you four. I found something in her room.”

“By her, I’m guessing you mean Jessamine...?”

Marcus nodded, shoving a small slip of paper towards Cliff and Sara. The two snatched it up, before Sara started reading the text.  
“Jessamine,

Come meet me in the cafeteria this morning! I wanted to share my secret with you, and I was too nervous to tell anyone else...  
Emmie.”

Sara finished that off with slight confusion in her voice. “That was bullshit. Emmie was with you all night, right, Nicole?”

“Y-yeah, that was obviously bait. Emmie and Kristen were sleeping in my room. Kristen shook us two awake, and that’s when we found out Jessamine died... I woke up at around three in the morning and both of the girls were on my floor.” Nicole said, crossing her arms over her shirt. She started playing with her bracelet to calm her nerves, and Oliver patted her shoulder awkwardly.

“But if it was bait, how come they chose Emmie to be the bait killer?” Marcus asked, with the smallest sound of uneasiness in his voice; he almost sounded nervous.

Cliff scoffed at the firefighter. “It’s obvious; the two were close friends with each other. They were a pair from the start. It was obvious something like this was going to happen, as blunt as it might sound.

Nicole felt tempted to call the archer out on what he said, but she decided against it, letting a small “I agree” out.

“But... who the fuck would’ve done this? I doubt anyone’d have a motive to do this shit.” Rylin snapped. “My secret was stupid; and I didn’t really have time to notice the others’ reactions...”

Nicole thought back a bit into the past, trying to remember if anyone really over-reacted.

She couldn’t think of anyone who’d have a motive. Well, someone here did, but it was extremely confusing to her, wether she’d like to admit it or not.

Oliver adjusted his glasses on his face. He pushed them up the bridge of his nose, and it looked rather... interesting... for someone to   
do that. “Should we go check the locations of the school? Investigating is getting a bit tiring, we’ve been at it for a few hours...”  
“I think we should take a break from this... C’mon, Oliver.” Sara said. “We can watch a movie or some shit.”

The two kids stalked out of the cafeteria. Sara and Oliver seemed to be hanging out all of a sudden, much to Nicole’s amusement. She decided to brush it off for a moment, before returning to her work with Cliff and Rylin.

Marcus had left silently, in a nervous rush. Nicole raised an eyebrow a bit, before letting it slide.

“Is there really anythin’ else I should do? I think I should check on Emmie...” Rylin asked sheepishly. 

“Go check on her. It’s a good thought to have.” Cliff said, in an unusually soft tone. “I know I’d do it for someone.”  
His voice sounded almost wistful. Nicole felt like asking what the matter was, but she remembered asking Cliff about his life earlier, and he got defensive.

It was best to leave the archer alone.

Nicole walked out of the kitchen, leaving Cliff, only to bump into Yana. The actress waved, and let a goofy smirk slip on her face. “Hey!”

“Uh, hi.” Nicole said, a little confused as to why Yana would sound so happy. “Why do you sound so enthusiastic?”

“Chris woke up!”

Nicole’s eyes flickered with happiness, before a look of worry spread across her face. “R-Really? How is he?!”

“He’s doing pretty good, hon. He woke up, and I got him to drink some water, and then rested his eyes. His head’s still pretty injured, he has a large bump, but other than that, he’s doing better. Chell and I are doing a good job of taking care of the young man.”  
Yana was so kind to others; Nicole felt a little bit warmer inside. She was a bit kinder than she was when she first met her. It was quite refreshing, to say the least.

“Well, I came out here to make come tea for Chell and I, but if you would like any help, just call!”

The maid left in a rush; it gave Nicole just enough time to sit down.

But right when she sat, she heard speakers buzz. A feeling of dread washed over her.

“Ahem, attention, attention! Your investigation time is now up! Please meet at the hallway with the elevator! Upupupupu~”  
The announcement matched exactly how it sounded last time; only Webb and Jessamine were alive. Nicole felt horrid, letting her head rest in her arms.

She stood up, and sighed, walking with the other students as slow as possible.

Marcus’ face was cold hard. Chris was standing up, but he looked horrible. He didn’t exactly need to talk, he was focused on not passing out. They would leave him alone a bit in the trial, but he might not function the same as usual.

Emmie stood straight, with a cold, determined expression on her face.

Nicole stepped into the elevator first, with the rest of the students following her nervously. 

They all were thinking the same thing.

Thirteen would step into the court room.

Twelve would leave safely.

And the horrible repeated feeling of dread waved over Nicole once again.


	19. Chapter 19

Nicole stepped into the elevator first, with the rest of the students following her nervously. Gabbi moved next to her, tapping her shoulder with her hand softly.

“I’ve got your back on this one. I found a lead.”

“Hm?” Nicole’s eyebrows crunched together in confusion, as a perplexed expression grew on her face. “You can get to that.”

The elevator doors shut, just as Oliver stepped in, and it began descending. Nicole gulped, a wave of nerves over her.

‘This is just like before... This aching, pained feeling in my gut, like I’m going to be sick... I need to think positive.’

Feeling the elevator stop suddenly, Nicole exhaled rather than inhaled, and slowly walked out, standing on her podium. She looked to the people around her, Rylin on one side of her, and Chris on the other. He was clutching his head with his hand.

“You okay?” Nicole whispered, concerned. Chris turned to her and flashed a small smile.

“I-I guess so. Worry about yourself.”

Nicole nodded, frowning, almost determined. Normally she wouldn’t think she’d be so confident yet scared, but this trial was crucial. There were two victims. Well, one victim and a person who was assaulted.

“AHEM! Weeeeelcome, kiddos!” a shrill voice echoed. A shiver ran down Emmie’s back.

In response to the obnoxious voice, a large groan echoed from the crowd. Everyone’s eyes flashed to Sara. She just shrugged. “Bitches got time for nothing. We just need to do this, so I suggest you don’t start, Monobear.”

“Well, EX-CU-U-U-USE YOU! Upupupu, we have a sassy one! Spicy!Saucy, even~”

Monobear paused to do a quite disturbing dance, before continuing. “Welcome to are second trial! You all better hurry, this’ll be heated up! I’m excited actually! You’d better hope you survive! I’d be BEARY disappointed if you all died so soon!”

Yana grimaced inside, while her face stayed neutral outside.

“WELL, IT’S BEST YOU BEGIN!”

BEGIN TRIAL

CLIFF: Well, I suggest we should start with the basics, am I right?

OLIVER: Yep, I agree. I tried investigating a bit this time, and I found some crucial evidence that’s worth looking at.

CHELL: Just hold on a second, can we try going over the profiles for a second? I noticed something seems a bit fishy, but let’s review.

NICOLE: Right, that sounds good. Our victim was Jessamine Beaumont, and our other victim was Chris White.

CONNOR: And since he’s standing here, he survived. He has to know something.

MARCUS: It’s obvious he has a migraine, I suggest you do not push him!

CHRIS: I said I was fine. I just need to think.

CLIFF: You may want to think faster, Chris. We’re all waiting on your input. Plus, we don’t know exactly what happened last night, we’re relying on you a bit.

NICOLE: .....Chris aside, I think we should all listen to what Oliver has to say. Oliver?

OLIVER: Finally! Anyway, so Rylin and I found something in the kitchen. The murder weapon was a hammer, it was covered in blood, wrapped in newspaper and thrown in the trash.

RYLIN: Right. We found tha pretty gross bloody hammer, and we thought that it ‘ought be the weapon of choice for a brutal murder.

EMMIE: We need to get justice for Jessamine. How exactly was she killed again?

CLIFF: Emmie, you saw, her throat was slit, it seems like she went down quickly.

YANA: I know, the poor thing. I wish I could have helped her...

GABBI: It was almost like she went down without a fight...

NICOLE: You’ve got that wrong!

NICOLE: Jessamine and the culprit obviously got into a scrap, considering she had a broken ankle. They must’ve smashed it in order to stop her from running away.

GABBI: It was obviously successful, then. Some coldhearted screwball must’ve gotten to her.

YANA: I’m still trying to accept the fact that someone had the heart to murder such an innocent girl.

CHRIS: S-Sorry I’m being useless guys... 

MARCUS: Excuse me for interrupting...

MARCUS: But I remember looking alone in Jessamine’s room and finding something very interesting. It seems like there was a page missing from Emmie’s book when I found the note, which means that she’s the killer.

KRISTEN: Hold the phone! That’s wrong!

MARCUS: Hm? What might be wrong?

KRISTEN: Connor, Emmie and I were looking through her bedroom after getting news of the note, so we could back up her alibi. We literally examined EVERYTHING, and her notebook wasn’t missing paper.

CHELL: How do you even know for sure, Kristen? Rummaging through Emmie’s stuff without her consent is sick.

KRISTEN: Excuse you, it was the only way for me to gather evidence, and she was with me. Anyone with a brain would know to do that. The eye of the super sleuth never dies.

CONNOR: I can back up this answer. She did see the full notebook, there wasn’t a page missing from it. 

CHELL: Well, why would Jessamine have a note then? What would the culprit gain by framing Emmie?

NICOLE: I don’t understand either, to be completely honest. Cliff, do you have an opinion?

NICOLE: It might be possible that someone we aren’t even expecting did it.

CLIFF: Well, to be completely honest, I don’t have a clue, as much as it hurts to admit. The culprit picked her maybe because she’s a bit weaker than us.

EMMIE: O-Oh...

EMMIE: I guess that might make a little bit of sense...

MARCUS: W-well, I don’t believe that answer completely, but I have another suggestion. Someone strong enough to break someone’s ankle is Rylin.

RYLIN: Are you freakin’ kidding me? I didn’t do a thing, yo. I was just hangin’ out in my room all night, gettin’ my sleep on!

SARA: That seems like a legitimate theory, however I don’t think that’s right. I mean, he was just as shaken as the rest of us, and he’s probs not a good actor.

KRISTEN: How is that even an a reason? *laugh* I think that’s right, though, but that isn’t the reason. I mean, he’s been targeted for both now.

RYLIN: I- I wouldn’t kill anyone! Why would I do that?

RYLIN: There’s another strong person in here, right? I can’t be the one you guys believe is the killer.

YANA: I don’t think he would so something like this. He seems too kind.

YANA: Plus, if I do recall, I believe that I have overheard Emmie speaking about the fact that Rylin told her his dirty little secret. 

YANA: He wouldn’t have a motive to murder someone.

GABBI: I still don’t believe it. 

CHELL: Honestly, I don’t know what to believe. Rylin might’ve done it, considering his IQ.

RYLIN: *breaks down* You have to believe me guys.

RYLIN: I don’t want to give up. I didn’t do this, please don’t kill yourselves. I didn’t do it!

NICOLE: I believe you, because I have a piece of evidence to go over.

NICOLE: Rylin didn’t do it. So don’t hold your asses in the same gear, try to think outside the box.

RYLIN: Thank you!

NICOLE: You’re welcome... Anyway, there’s one person who is enough evidence themselves.

CONNOR: Chris, am I right?

NICOLE: Yup, Chris. 

CHRIS: M-Me... But why? My memory’s fucked.

NICOLE: But we’re all counting on you... We need your contribution.

CHRIS: Okay. This is what I remember.

SARA: I can’t believe you waited until now to tell us this.

CHRIS: It all started last night, and I was taking a walk...

CHRIS: It was vague. I can barely remember, but I’m trying really hard.

CLIFF: It’s okay, Chris, just try, okay?

CHRIS: I was walking. I saw a corpse, which was Jessamine I guess, and a large, towering figure.

MARCUS: Rylin’s a towering figure.

RYLIN: I’m like, three inches shorter than you, man.

YANA: Be quiet. Someone’s speaking, don’t be rude to others. That is the worst quality to have.

CHRIS: The figure chased me down, and smashed my head in. They were... Uh...

CHRIS: Maybe it was Rylin? But after all that evidence... I still don’t know.

RYLIN: You sure about that, dawg?

RYLIN: I already have an alibi, we established this.

CHRIS: W-wait, I remember something else.

CHRIS: I remember that... Oh god... I remember struggling. Their clothes were plasticy, almost like rubber. It felt like a... a fire suit. 

CHRIS: OH MY GOD, MARCUS TRIED TO KILL ME.

MARCUS: What? That’s preposterous. That’s outrageous, why would I kill someone.

CLIFF: I can defend that one!

CLIFF: Marcus reacted negatively to the motive.

SARA: You did too, though.

CLIFF: I’m.... short....

SARA: ...

KRISTEN: Whoa, we didn’t notice THAT before.

CONNOR: Bad time for sarcasm, Kris.

CLIFF: Also, Marcus decided to target multiple people in this trial, and he also investigated alone this entire time. The handwriting on the note was rather formal, and Emmie’s handwriting is girly and extremely neat. She dots her ‘I’s with bubbles, rather than normal dots. 

CLIFF: It’s highly possible that Marcus is the culprit.

NICOLE: I think so too... What do you think guys?

MARCUS: This is an outrage. I wouldn’t do such a thing to one of my peers.

GABBI: I’m still clueless.

CHRIS: Wasn’t our fight enough evidence?

MARCUS: ...

MONOBEAR: Are you bastards done yet? This is grossly dull!

KRISTEN: We’re done.

NICOLE: Yeah. I think we’ve decided.

\----

Marcus hesitated, before making his final decision to murder as he wrote a letter from ‘Emmie’ to Jessamine. He’d lure the weakest one out. Emmie was occupied, even though he was her first choice. Jessamine would believe the trap.

At the exact time he wanted to get her out of her room, he saw the blonde standing there, waiting. She turned to him, a flash of fear in her eyes.

“M-Marcus? What are you doing here, where’s Emily?”

“I’m sorry. But I have to.”

SMASH.

He missed.

Jessamine turned to run away, only to feel a yank on her hair. He had gotten her. Her eyes widened as she screamed, only to have her voice caught in her throat. 

SMASH.

Her ankle had snapped in half. She howled in pain, tears streaming out of her eyes, as Marcus picked up a butcher knife and sliced her throat. Ear to ear.

He threw her body onto the floor, as she attempted to stand, only to begin drowning in her own blood. She flailed for a bit, attempting to scream, before going still.

Jessamine Beaumont had just died at the hands of Marcus Jakes.

A small yelp was heard at the door of the cafeteria, and Marcus swiveled around. He had a witness. 

That witness was Chris White.

There was a long chase after that, before Chris hastily opened the door to his bedroom. Just as he was about to close and lock the door, the door didn’t budge, and a raging, delirious Marcus tried coming in.

Chris lacked the strength, and before he knew it, Marcus was on top of him. He gripped the plastic of the fireman’s outfit, before he felt a large pressure on his skull, before be blacked out.

Little did Marcus know that the blow wasn’t deadly.

“””””””   
The voting machine rolled. Pixelated, animated pictures of each of the characters rolled and rolled, finally landing on a final face.  
It was Marcus. Streamers fell, and confetti blasted, landing in all of the students' hair.  
CONGRATULATIONS! MARCUS IS THE CULPRIT!  
“”””””  
"Execution commence! Any last words?~" Monobear shrilled, twirling and plopping down in front of the button on his podium.

“Nothing else to say. The only thing I must say is that I apologize for my actions. And if I may, since these are my dying moments, could I share my secret with the others?”

Monobear wiggled. “Go right ahead!”

“My family decent is a tragic one. It was all about the history of my family. I usually say that my family is from England, and that it’s a normal, happy one. But in reality, my mother was a victim of sexual assault from a selfish, evil man. Long story short, he got her pregnant. And I am here today because of that tragedy. I apologize for my actions, as I have said, but I believe there is no more to be spoken. My last prayers go to Jessamine, and I do apologize to you, Chris. I hope that someday you will have the heart to forgive me.”

He was legitimately sorry for what he had done; Chris didn’t know what to feel.

Everyone was silent. No one had any words to share with Marcus. Sara slowly pulled her phone out of her pocket and began scrolling through pictures, before Gabbi whacked her arm. Sara frowned and put her phone back in her pocket.

Monobear wordlessly raised the mallet, banging on the large red button. The TV screen below held a picture of a pixelated Marcus, and it showed him being dragged away by a pixelated Monobear.

Marcus’s face was hard, stoic and cold. He looked around at his classmates, before he was dragged off by a chain around his neck.  
He was dragged and dragged, before thrown onto a stadium, strapped to a house made entirely of books.

EXECUTION: BURN IT UP, FIREMAN!

Marcus looked around, extremely confused, his hard, cold exterior had vanished.

A Monobear held up a match, and all of a sudden, the house was slowly catching on fire.

The fire was small, slow and frightening.

A pail of oil was thrown onto it, and the fire got slightly bigger.

A few moments later, a few Monobears appeared holding hoses. Marcus, for a split second, believed he could be saved. He actually thought he would live.

He was wrong.

The Monobears turned their hoses on, and the unexpected came out of the hoses.

Fire.

The hoses were flamethrowers, and Marcus was being engulfed in fire.

More oil was thrown onto the flame, and it was a mess of ash in just a few moments. There was no sight of a body.

Marcus Jakes was dead.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yooooooo

Nicole’s eyes were locked on the large screen TV inside of the courtroom. Marcus Jakes was dead. She heard a choked sob come from the back of the room, as she turned around to see Connor pull Kristen into a small hug.

“It’s going to be okay…” He muttered. “I’ll getcha out of here, okay?”

“Alright…” The prankster replied, closing her eyes. “I just want to go home…”

Connor stroked her hair. He wasn’t one for comforting, but he sure hoped he was doing okay. “I do too. And I’m sure your cats are waiting for you.”

“Heh heh… yeah…”

Nicole sighed, defeated, turning back towards the screen, leaving those two to themselves. The rest of the room was silent. The fire was still burning; she didn’t know where these executions were being held, but that place was smoldering.

She could feel the rock hard stare of Chris towards the TV. Nicole knew that he wasn’t going to be forgiving him for a while, despite the young man’s apology.

“G-guys… we should get going…” Emmie said suddenly, in a small voice. “We need to move on. Like you all were saying last time. We can’t let this happen again.”

Rylin huffed, nodding in agreement. “Yeah. Let’s go, a’ight?”

No one spoke afterwards; they all gathered inside of the metal gates of the elevator, as it shut tightly, bringing all of the remaining students upwards. The wait for it to go up was quiet, just as quiet as it had been downstairs.

After a few awfully silent moments, the elevator stopped with a halt, the doors flying open, and the students scrambling to get out of the elevator as quickly as possible. Nicole heard Gabbi say it smelled like death.

“Another unnecessary murder.” Cliff stated coldly. “We have to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” 

“How the hell are we going to do that?” Sara muttered, walking in the direction of the kitchen. “If you’ll all excuse me, I’m going to go eat some comfort food, but by all means, feel free to join me.” 

“Yeah… I think I could go for some comfort food.” Emmie said, walking off after Sara.

“We need to settle down for a moment... I think. We should all just relax and try to come up with a way to get out of here.” Yana said nervously, playing with her nails. “We should just try to recover from the last trial for a night…”

Gabbi flipped her bangs out of her face, tightened her ponytail and stuck her hands in her pockets. “Yana’s right, we should all get some rest.”

“What do you all think? I’m ready to go to bed.”

Cliff raised his hand a bit. “I’m going to go to sleep. Kristen just left, and so did Chell.”

Chell waved her hand in the air, as she exited the room. She didn’t seem to feel like talking. Nicole didn’t blame her at all.

Nicole wordlessly left the room, entered her room, and threw herself onto her bed. She didn’t bother taking off her shoes or covering up, as she lazily flipped the switch on her lamp.

“Fuck.” Nicole spat as she stood up, opening her door to Kristen.  
 “I sleep here now.”

Kristen threw her body onto the floor, right next to Nicole’s bed. Emmie had already retrieved her belongings. Kristen sighed, curling up into a ball.

“””””””””””””

“Nicole, wake up god dammit.” Kristen groaned, poking the other girl in the side. “The wake up announcement went off like 5 minutes ago.”

Kristen leaned in closer. “My birthday’s in two days. There’s no better way to celebrate by pranking.”

She sprayed Nicole with a bit of water. 

Nicole grumbled in displeasure as she sat up in bed. Usually she woke up just before the alarm went off. Today was a change.

“Why are you in such a rush?” Nicole asked as she stood up and stretched. Kristen ran her fingers through her hair to replace a hairbrush.

“I am so hungry man, you don’t even know.” Kristen stood up, clutching her cat stuffed animal in her arms. “Whatcha think, the cat too much?” She struck a pose.

Nicole laughed lightly at the pranksters antics.  “I see you’ve recovered from last night.”

“Heh heh, not really.” Kristen’s mood dropped a bit, tossing the stuffed cat back onto her pillow. “Just trying to lighten the mood, as usual.” A moment of silence passed before Kristen perked up again. “Get a move on girl, or I’m going to starve to death.”

A few minutes later the two girls walked into the cafeteria, only to be greeted by different variations of “Look who decided to show up!”

Nicole said hello to the others, throwing herself into a chair, with Kristen sitting in between her and Connor. Connor put his arm around Kristen, and the latter didn’t attempt to struggle. 

“How’d you guys sleep?” The younger boy asked, a small smile forming on his face as he played with a tiny strand of his brown hair. “You both were pretty quiet last night after the trial, not that I blame you guys or anything.”

After he finished that sentence, his eyes flashed towards Kristen for a moment.

Kristen shrugged, resting the cat plush on her shoulder. “I slept pretty good, can’t say much for Nicole, though.”

“I slept okay, I kept waking up in the middle of the night, which sucked a lot.” Nicole said. “I just wish I could get those visions out of my head.”

Oliver stuck into the conversation. “Speaking of vision…”

He pointed towards Cliff, who had just fallen onto the ground after tripping on one of the chairs. He mumbled a choice swear, before standing up, stumbling a bit.

“Y’all right?” Gabbi asked in a hesitant voice after taking a bite out of a muffin.

Yana giggled softly, playing with one of her purple pigtails, taking a bite out of a biscuit. “You’re confusing me… hehe!”

Cliff growled. “I can’t find my contact lenses. They were on my bedside table and now they’re gone.”

Connor snickered as Kristen’s eyes darted back and forth, a small smirk growing on her face.

Nicole narrowed her eyes in confusion and slight sympathy. “Did you bring a spare pair of glasses? I mean, if you can’t see, that’d be pretty bad.”

“NO.” Cliff stated a little bit too quickly. 

Nicole stood up and crossed her arms. “You sure about that?”

Cliff looked guilty. He crossed his arms, looking a bit embarrassed. “If any of you laugh, I will get my revenge.”

He pulled a pair of thick framed glasses and threw them on his face with remorse. “I will kill you, Kristen. I am very upset. I know it was you.”

Kristen flipped her hair over her shoulder with a free hand, smirking. “I don’t know what you mean, Clifford.”

“Clifford? Ha.” Chell laughed from the other side of the table. “What are you, a dog?”

Gabbi chuckled under her breath. “He never said that was his name.”

“It isn’t.” The blonde boy spat, throwing himself into a chair, slouching. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t call me ‘Clifford’. I feel like a huge dork as is.”

A playful eyebrow wiggle came from Connor, as he picked at his thumbnail. His eyes darted towards cliff. “Whatever you say, Cliff(ord), whatever you say…”

“Okay, sooo…. no one’s allowed to murder each other anymore. I threw down the law.” Chell said. “I don’t want to see any more dying. There isn’t as much tension anymore. It should stay this way until we get rescued, /if/ we get rescued.”

“I second that notion.” Gabbi said, raising her hand. “I don’t want you guys to die. I like you all. We should definitely refrain from killing each other.”  
 “That’s the most fucked up sentence I’ve ever heard.” Sara said as she stepped out of the kitchen, holding a sandwich in her hands. She cracked her left thumb in her own nervousness, before sitting down in the seat next to Oliver’s. “Although I do agree. How about we try to enjoy ourselves. Despairing isn’t going to do us any good.”

Oliver pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, before clearing his throat. “Yeah… let’s try to have fun, guys! Plus, we have another whole floor to investigate.”

Rylin stepped up from his chair, after finishing his cake. Emmie stood up as well, but the former decided to speak first. “Well, what’cha waitin’ for? Let’s get investigating!”

“Let’s wait for a little while, Rylin. There isn’t a rush, is there?” Yana said softly. “Plus, we should all eat breakfast.”

“I miss my laptop…” Connor muttered out of the blue. Kristen said a small “there there”.

Connor shrugged a bit, rolling up the sleeves on his hoodie. “I just miss making animations. You probably know how I feel, one of you? I mean, anyone who does art stuff.”

“I can’t relate to ya, buddy. I got my hockey rink right upstairs!” Rylin bragged unintentionally, stretching. “And Cliff’s got an archery room! Us sports kids can really be chummy!”

“Sure.” Cliff said bluntly. His bad mood about his glasses didn’t seem to subside.

Emmie shrugged at Rylin. “I don’t really have anything going for me, other than public speaking.”

“We might get a stage?” Chell inquired, unsure. “Although I’m not quite good at acting other than professional sets. It would be good to boost my skill, I guess.”

“I want my magic kit.” Gabbi said to herself.

Emmie smiled. “Maybe we can get a stage! And you and Gabbi might be able to perform a magic act together!”

“I never thought of that…” Chell said, thinking to herself. “I guess that’d work. Although it’d be a bit awkward. Really weird, actually.”

“Mm, maybe.” Gabbi shrugged. “I’m more of a solo worker.”

Chris groaned, his face in his arms. “I don’t feel well, I’m going to go and lie down.”

Nicole looked a bit sympathetic. She had nearly forgotten about Chris and his injury. She wanted to help, but she didn’t exactly know how to. So the only thing she could come up with was “Feel better, Chris!”

As he left the room to go back to sleep, Cliff stood up, the others following. They all were about to do the same thing.

They were about to go investigate the third floor of the school.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I AM TRASH
> 
> ugh this sucks

Most of the students (some staying behind) decided to venture around the third floor of the school. Even though they shouldn’t have been excited, because the new floors meant murder, no one could resist knowing what new activities they could have.  
 The more excited and optimistic people in the group, like Connor and Emmie, while Chris skulked in the back of the group, barely making any noise. He nearly tripped three times.

“Chris, I’m worried about you…” Yana muttered. “You may have a concussion.”

The DJ stumbled on his feet, before setting himself straight. He glared slightly. He wasn’t in a good mood. “I’m fine, see?”

“What are we supposed to be seeing, exactly?” Sara said from in front of the group, turning around. Someone was frustrated.

Chris looked slightly insulted, and turned his extremely loud rap music up so the victims standing around him would have to listen.

Connor silently slipped his arm around Kristens. Neither made a move to change position, and Nicole felt her heart flutter.

“Guys, look.” Gabbi said, pointing towards a room to their left.

Nicole looked into the vast room, with awe. It was a large room, with a luscious gray carpet and a warm fireplace at the other side of the room. Maroon walls complimented four leather couches and recliner chairs.

A shelf, along with two tables on the side held many board games. Time consuming and quick fun, there was something for everyone. 

“Woah, this is so cool!” Oliver grinned at the others, his eyes lighting up as he took in the room around him.

“Not for long….” a voice came from the back of the room. The others turned to see Cliff, still with a pissed expression on his face.

“What do you mean?” Kristen asked, frowning. She still had Connor’s arm around her and was holding a game she had just picked up from entering the room.

“Well, let’s face it. We’re freaking trapped here and help isn’t coming anytime soon. How long before we get bored of all this stuff?”

Chell looked ready to punch him in the mouth but she resisted.

“Yo, don’t be a party pooper.” Rylin said. “We just want to look at the bright side a bit, ya hear?”

The shorter blond crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “Four people have died as of today. I feel like we need to simmer down and stop acting as if nothing happened. If people would actually learn from others’ mistakes, maybe people won’t kill anymore. But for some reason, I can’t believe that quite yet.”

The room went silent.

Nicole had just sat down on the couch to play a game with Connor and Kristen, when Cliff had said this. The people here were all so carefree, and happy. She felt as if the people around her COULD be trusted. But as Cliff said this, she began to doubt.

The girl took a swift moment to examine the people around her. The smile slowly fell off of Kristen’s face. 

Oliver stood up. “I’m going on ahead, anyone wanna join?”

“I will…” Chell said. “it’s really tense in here. I wanna see what other goodies there may be in the beyond land.”

The two left the room wordlessly. Yana silently followed, and Chris decided to lay down on the couch and rest his head.

Nicole found herself standing up. “I’m gonna go too.”

She walked past Cliff, who was still standing in the same position. His eyes flickered downwards when her arm brushed against his. “Calm down, Cliff. It’s going to be alright.”

“True doubt comes from within.” Kristen chuckled. The archer glared for a split second.

The instrumentalist decided to leave the room, jogging slightly to catch up with the others. She didn’t know these people very well, and she hoped to get to know them. She’d been closest to Sara, Emmie, Kristen and Connor while she’d been here, and she recently became friends with Rylin and Cliff. Somewhat.

Chris was also her friend. But he seemed to like no one at this point, and in a way, Nicole couldn’t blame him.

The girl felt a presence behind her, and swiftly turned around, only to hear muffled footsteps and a vague “Cliff, why are you back in here?”

Nicole wandered about for a few more steps before stumbling into another room. It was a bit bigger than the last, and the walls had various TVs and game consoles. It was a game room, and certain children in there were mesmerized.

“I’m guessing this is the “lounge floor” of the school. I walked to the other side of the hallway earlier when I snuck off, and I saw that there was another wall put down where classrooms used to be.” Yana stated calmly, playing with one of her ponytails. “Although, this room wouldn’t catch my interest one bit...”

Chell threw herself towards the entertainments on the walls. “This is my new humble abode. Have fun finding me.”

The actress seemed to like this room a lot. 

“I didn’t exactly catch you as the video game type, Chell...”

The girl shrugged a bit, before winking. “I have a lot of freetime between recording sessions. For some reason, they take me to a whole new world. Of course, I also like science fiction, so I’d like to visit libraries too.”

“Sounds fun.”

The girls both smiled, as Chell sat down. “Very. We need to hang out eventually, that would be totally cool.”

Nicole laughed a little bit. “Sure! We can play your favorite titles, because I’m clueless with video games. All I can play is Animal Crossing without screwing up. And Pokemon, but I manage to mess that up, too. I’ve never beaten a game of that...”

“I’m not quite the Nintendo person, I’m more into Sqare Enix games, like Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, TWEWY, so on and so forth.”

Chell was getting ready to plug a game into a console, before Nicole decided to get up.

“I’ll see you later, Chell!”

“Totally!”

\---

“We need to stop this.”

A figure loomed upon the shorter figure, before smiling. He picked up a bloodied, nearly burned to a crisp jacket. He put it on, and then slid the mask to the side. 

“Oh, dearest, why?”

“We’re hurting people, our old friends... It was a bad idea from the start. I feel the need to stop you, somehow.”

The smaller figure raised their fist and began to swat. The larger figure dodged, before the first kicked fiercely.

He frowned. “I thought we were in agreement, here. You really wish to betray me, even though I granted you power? Is that how it’s going to be?”

The puppet master placed his hand on a large switch. It was labeled, ‘trump card’. “Do you need me to pull this? Kill everyone at the pull of a switch?”

“N-No, Brother. That isn’t necessary.”

“Good, now run along. I’ll make sure you return to the group unnoticed.”

**Author's Note:**

> All of my chapters are obnoxiously short. I apologize for my laziness.


End file.
